The Last (Great) Airbender
by MajorStupoid
Summary: What is the limit to the sky, to airbending? What can one newly-made airbender do to help keep balance along with the Avatar? Follow Yuuto, a former resident of Ba Sing Se as he joins Team Avatar as a dedicated airbender after they rescue him from the Earth Queen's clutches as he goes on to make allies, as well as life-long enemies, forever trying to maintain harmony and balance.
1. 1 Escape

**Quick Author's Note:**

**Oh joy of joys, I've finally resumed writing this damn thing. Nah, I love this story, but anyway, for those who are looking at this specific chapter for updates, it'll probably be a week or maybe even two before I start uploading the new stuff simply because, well, band camp. For those who live in PA and are in marching band in high school, you know exactly what I mean.**

**Anyway, enough about that, I'll leave you to read or whatever you want to do. I don't know, but right now I have to catch up on Sword Art Online II; see ya!**

**P.S. I don't own Avatar or Legend of Korra or any related characters and none of this would ever be considered canon in any way.**

* * *

"Come on! Keep up!" The Avatar called to us as we began running. We turned down a long hallway and were met by three of the Queen's Guard. Before anyone could react, they shot their…hand…things at us, grabbing the Avatar's wrist and dragging her toward them.

I burst forward, diving into their ranks and blasting them from behind toward the Avatar, allowing her to swiftly take them out with a couple blasts of fire. She nodded to me before taking the lead once again.

We both saw the exit, and the young Avatar shot through it with a strong gust of wind. She inspected the area. "It's clear!" she called running out to safety, only to be blocked by a wall of the Queen's Guard.

"Clear my butt!" I yelled before shooting a continuous blast on air towards them, the others soon joining me.

"Go!" she called to those not holding the Guard off. When I looked, I saw a massive airship lowering itself to where we could jump to it from the highest point on the building. As more and more of us broke off, it was soon just the Avatar, Tenzin and I. "Go on!"

"No way! Not until you two go!" I called back, breaking off and jumping into the air, forcing an extremely potent blast of air to come from a kick, knocking the Guards flat.

With them temporarily subdued, all three of us scaled the wall, however we didn't entirely make it.

They all went for the Avatar, seeing her as the biggest threat. As she was pulled, I did probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. I jumped off after her. Once I caught up to her, I blasted the Guard with air once again before propelling the Avatar back up to where she was.

After landing on the ground, quite hard actually, I started running for my life; well not running; but air scooter-ing. As I did, I saw another group running. I soon caught up to them and began running for real. "Hey so, are you guys with the Avatar?" I questioned. "Because she kinda owes me now."

"A little busy here, guy," a firebender said back, before sending a couple fireballs back toward our pursuers. "And you bringing more of these guys doesn't exactly help."

Another one looked up and behind us before I heard what sounded like a bison. "Everybody hang on!" he called back to thrust his fists down, and a pillar of earth propelled us all into the air before we landed safely of something akin to the flying bison that some airbenders had.

I took a deep breath, releasing a heavy sigh as this strange group had their reunion with…someone. Some little kid, I don't know.

Eventually, I turned around, leaning onto the edge of the saddle. I heard some snickering before someone tapped my shoulder, and when I turned, it was the Avatar.

"Hey," she greeted. "I just wanted to thank you, for earlier."

I shrugged. "Yeah, uh-huh," I said boredly, not thinking much of it. "You don't have to thank me."

"Well, I may not have to, but I thought it'd be the right thing to do," she smiled, which I returned. "You have incredible control over your airbending," she commented.

"I guess if the Avatar says so."

"It's just Korra," she replied, waving one of her hands in front of her face.

I nodded. "Alright then, Korra. So what were you doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"We were looking for newly made airbenders, like you," she explained. "It looks like we finally found you guys too. I'm sorry for what the Earth Queen did."

I shrugged once again. "It's not your fault and hey, you got us out in the long run, so it's fine."

"Yeah, you're right. Well, I'm sure you'll have a great time training with Tenzin, he's-"

"Eh?" I interrupted. "Training? With that old geezer? No way, not me."

"But…you should learn from somebody."

"Even so, I've heard some pretty bad things about that guy; I don't think it would end well. Let's just say that. Besides, judging from Ba Sing Se, it seems like I'd have a lot more opportunity to improve my skill traveling the world like you, rather than staying cooped up in some temple somewhere."

I overlooked to the sky, my eyes slowly gazing downwards; a mistake I would most likely make many a time. Just the sight of the ground so far beneath us made my stomach lurch, and I soon hurled off the side of the bison, much to the amusement of the others on board.

Once we landed, the old geezer gave a speech about rebuilding the Air Nomads or something, and asked for volunteers. Everyone except me volunteered by the way. Once everyone had been loaded up onto one of the two airships, the one going up to the Northern Air Temple the geezer said, he came up to me.

"Hello, my name is Tenzin. I noticed that you were the only one of the group not to come with us."

"Yeah? And?"

"Well, I think what you did back at the Catacombs was very brave and you are exceptionally talented in some ways, but I must beg you to reconsider."

"…Sorry, but my mind is made up," I said, trying to be as least obnoxious as possible. " A temple just isn't the place to learn for me."

"I see…"

"Tell you what, old man; when you're done "training" the others, come back and see what I know. I'll do my homework; promise," I held my hand out.

He offered a nod. "Alright, but I expect you to have memorized every monk and their accomplishments by then," he said jokingly…I hope it was in joking anyway, before shaking my hand. "Now, do you need a couple of scrolls to get you started? Anything to aid in your own training?"

I thought about it. "Well, I always wanted one of those glider things you guys have," I smirked.

"Well…anything to aid you," he seemed defeated before relinquishing one of the spare ones.

With that, the new Airbenders departed, leaving one airship left. I don't really know why I hung around there instead of leaving to find someplace new, but around the time when the moonlight began to take over, just after sunset basically, I was called over by that firebender from earlier.

As I approached I saw that they had been quarreling a bit, possibly over who would be the one to call me over, and by "they" I meant Korra, the firebender, the earthbender from earlier, and also another girl.

"Hey, what's up?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, you said that you wanted to travel the world, and I've talked to the others, and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us," Korra explained.

I thought about it. I would be able to travel the world and see so many new places, but at the same time I would also have to travel with the Avatar; which I've heard isn't the best thing to do if you want to travel peacefully. Still, we worked together pretty well when we broke out, and it certainly was satisfying to stick it to the Queen's Guard, so I guess it was fine.

"I…guess I could come along."

"Cool!" the earthbender rapidly grabbed my hand and shook it forcefully. "The name's Bolin, and this little guy here is Pabu," he scratched the fire ferret, which had been riding on his shoulder, on the head. He proceeded to jump onto my shoulder and nuzzle my head. I chuckled and accepted the affection.

"Careful," the firebender warned. "That just means he's gonna mess with you later. My name's Mako, by the way."

"And I'm Asami," the other girl finished out the group. She had very pale complexion and thick lipstick. "What's your name?"

"Yuuto. It's not exactly a normal name for an Earth Kingdom kid, but I like it," I explained.

"Yeah, it's…nice," Bolin said. "Well, let's get going. Come on, Pabu!" he said before the ferret left my shoulder and we all boarded the airship. On board, I was immediately questioned by an older woman.

"And who's this?" she demanded accusingly.

"Lin, this is Yuuto," Korra introduced. I held my hand out to her.

"Good to meet you, Chief," I said, recognizing her. She didn't even think about responding though, not even acknowledging me.

"Avatar, I can't have you bringing aboard strangers when I'm trying to protect you."

I reared my hand back and made a little airbending show for her in it. "I can handle that," I said, smirking.

"Right…" she said as she turned back. "Fine, but if he does _anything_ to-"

I frowned. "I got it, okay?"

"Tch," she stormed off.

"Alright; I can tell she'll be a bundle of fun."

And so we took off to...some random river because we needed water for Korra's polar bear-dog. "You'd think that they'd be popping up all over the place," Korra said, her voice clearly annoyed at not having heard word of any other locations of airbenders. "Where are they?" she yelled out into the wilderness, causing a couple of birds to fly away from the trees. She furiously scratched her head in annoyance.

"Hey, come on. Calm down, Korra; they'll turn up soon enough."

"Yeah, or maybe they were all scared away by Tenzin before we made it Ba Sing Se," she retorted to herself. "I'm just so-"

"Hey guys!" Asami called to us from the entryway of the airship. "I found a report of a new airbender!"


	2. 2 Attack

Finally in Zaofu, the metal city. It was located in this beautiful valley between two mountains, overlooking a large lake, which I've affectionately nickname Lake Louise because "Jeez, Louise, we're really high up from it."

Korra decided to fly ahead and tell that we weren't a threat, what with the Earth Kingdom's horrible monarchy and all. Once they were all clear to land, everybody except Lin came out.

"Hello there, my name is Aiwei," the man greeted us. We all proceeded to shake his hand. "Isn't there someone else on your airship?"

"Hm? Nope," Korra said nonchalantly. "Why do you ask?"

"I see."

"Hey, where's that new airbender we've heard about?" Bolin inquired looking out over the edge.

"Yes, of course; right this way," Aiwei took us into a small alcove where a couple of metalbenders made us a make-shift elevator.

Once we made it through the nearly entirely metal-based city, we were met with a woman who looked to be the head woman of the area.

It turned out that this woman was named Suyin, and soon, we found out that Lin was her sister; can I just leave it at "hijinks ensue"? Honestly, I had nothing to do with it, so I paid little attention to it, though I did find their little tussle entertaining to watch.

We also met our new airbender; Suyin's daughter named Opal, and she turned out to be pretty good when first learning to airbend.

Around midday, I asked for a knife from one of the chefs, and found a nice quiet place by the fountain, and I sat down with the knife and my new glider.

I began carving letters into the staff. "Hey," Bolin's voice filled my ears. "Whatcha doing?"

"Making it mine," I answered referring to the glider. "Something unique to call my own."

"Well, airbending is pretty unique, right?"

"If you say so; it kinda comes natural, you know?" I said boredly. "Kinda like earthbending for you. Speaking of, I'm curious; what the heaviest rock you can bend?"

"Hm? I never really thought about it, but probably…" he smashed his foot into the ground and hefted a large chunk of the path above his head. His arms were shaking. "About this heavy," he struggled to get the words out before throwing the rock off the side. He fell to his bum and panted. "Man, never doing that again."

"Bolin!" Opal called him and from the ground, he shot up.

"Coming!" he called back before smirking at me. "She's totally into me," he murmured to me before dashing off toward her, leaving me to chuckle at the man. Soon, I was approached by Korra as well, who had brought her glider too.

As soon as she sat down, I raised my glider up triumphantly. "Aha! Finally done!"

"What'd you do?" she wondered before I showed her what I had written.

"Made it my own."

"It says 'Fly free and fly high" and then it has your name written on it."

"Exactly," I grinned.

"Right…anyway, you wanna go give it a spin?" she asked, to which I frowned and turned away.

"What? You mean, like…actually…like fly through the air? No I-I don't think that's a good idea," I stuttered, my cheeks getting redder even after I said it.

Korra smirked. "Oh? Someone's a little afraid of heights I think," she teased, give a love-tap on my arm. I pushed her back playfully.

"No I'm not," I insisted, my entire face most like becoming red. "It's just…I'm not in the mod is all."

"Right…and when will you be 'in the mood'?" she questioned, her smirk growing ever more into a grin.

"Well, I…um…bah! Alright fine, I don't like heights, so what?" I crossed my arms.

"But…wait, you jumped from the side of a building to save me, right?"

"I don't like heights where I could die from the fall; does that clear it up?" I countered, flustered.

"Hey, come on, we all have something that scares us," she offered.

"But I'm an airbender," I reminded her. "It's not normal for one of us to be afraid of this; does that mean that…there's something wrong with me?"

She shook her head and put her hand on my shoulder. "No, there's nothing wrong with you. For the longest time, I couldn't airbend at all, and I thought there was something wrong with me, but I didn't let it drag me down in my duties," she said. "And Avatar Aang had to go through so many things too, and he thought it was his fault and that there was something wrong with him, but he still saved the world."

I sighed. "Right, thank you."

"Anytime," she reminded. Opal came out soon after to get us for dinner.

That night, every time I fell asleep, I had a nightmare of falling, having no way to save myself, before waking up about twenty minutes later. This went on for a couple hours before I gave up trying to sleep. I found a nice cozy spot up in a small tree to spend the night.

Then I heard something strange, almost like a whistling sound coming from one of the houses. I hopped down from my perch and approached the building, which coincidentally turned out to be Korra's, only to find four men leaving the building with an unconscious Korra in tow.

Now, I could've tried to stop them and most likely gotten by butt whooped, but I decided to be relatively smart and try to tail them, maybe see where they were heading. As I did, I noticed something strange, a couple of darts were in Korra's shoulder and her leg; some kind of sedative probably. They couldn't take her so quietly otherwise.

Soon, I heard what sounded like scratching in a window and soon after that, Bolin and Mako burst out like morons and blasted the kidnappers with their bending. I quickly circled around to where they would have gone next.

Two of the four easily blocked their initial assaults, some lady with no actual arms and a long-haired guy. "Get the Avatar out of here; we can handle these punks," one of the girls said, to which the bald guy started walking. I stepped out of the shadows and shot a blast of air at him, forcing him to step back to the others.

"Going somewhere?" I questioned. The third-eyed lady stared really hard at me, and then I heard this popping sound as a distortion in the air seemed to form in a line toward me. I just barely managed to roll out of the way before an explosion occurred right where I was.

I shot several blasts of air toward the group, all of which were distilled by the man carrying Korra. "Ah, a fellow airbender; interesting," he said, his voice somewhat monotone.

"Zaheer, now's not the time!" the third-eyed woman snapped, shooting another blast that I had to dodge.

"Right, thank you, P'Li."

I ran up to them and somersaulted over them, blasting air all throughout. When I tried to dive to Korra, Zaheer knocked me away, giving me a swift kick to the head before airbending me away, back toward Mako and Bolin. As he did that, another one of them dug their fist into the ground and created a small volcano around them, with a small island for them to stand on.

P'Li shot another beam at us. "Get down!" I yelled before I made a swirling motion and then throwing my hands up, sending the air where it would've exploded upwards. The explosion still was powerful enough to knock me to the ground, and she was already getting ready for another one.

As she let it loose, several walls of metal came from the ground, shielding us. I turned around to see Suyin and Lin coming to help, while Mako and I sent potent flurries of wind and fire. Lin attempted to get a clear shot to Korra with her cables in order to pull her back to us, but was being deflected every time.

"This is never going to work," Suyin claimed as she chucked a piece of metal towards them, which was promptly explodified. "How are we supposed to get to Korra if we can't cross this gap?"

Mako turned to me. "You're an airbender; you can just fly over there, can't you?"

"Fly over molten lava and risk burning to death? No thanks. Besides, that lady with three eyes would shoot me down for sure," I countered. "If one of you guys could distract her…"

"Forget it," Lin said. "Even if you did get close, you couldn't take them all on and save Korra and get out of there at the same time."

"But…" Suyin looked around, examining her surroundings. "We could always try an overhead assault. If we can lift off with the airship, Lin and I could drop down and grab Korra."

Mako nodded. "Bolin and I will stay down here and try to distract them."

"And I'll go to the lowest deck of the airship to block any of those kinetic blasts that chick uses," I agreed. "Alright, let's go!"

When we arrived, we informed Asami of the plan, and she immediately started the engines and took off.

As the metalbenders took their positions, I made my way to the lowest deck, an open deck actually, where it took all I had not to hurl again. "Just don't look down…" I told myself. "Just listen for the pop sound and then shoot the air…"

We made it over top of the enemy, Suyin and Lin began lowering themselves with their cables. I made a preemptive move and shot a focused wave of air down at them. As I began to hear the popping sounds, I shot wave after wave down without looking exactly where I should have been looking.

"Got her!" I heard after what seemed like an eternity. "Mako, Bolin, jump on at the edge!" I heard afterwards.

"No!" Zaheer yelled as I heard rumbling, and then a couple small boulders and fireballs were shot up, apparently missing their target, trying to stop Zaheer.

The airship lurched to the side, and I instinctively dropped to my knees, my arms shaking in fright. "Now's not the time!" I reminded myself, sending shot after shot of wind downwards.

The lurch of the ship turned out to be us moving toward the edge, where Mako and Bolin were supposed to jump on. Soon, we made it, and, narrowly dodging an explosion, the two successfully made it up onto the ship with me, which started rising up into the sky.

When I took a _very_ brief peek down, I saw Lin coming back up as well, but I had to stop looking because of what was past her; a watery doom if I fell.

When I looked back, time seemed to go in slow motion as Zaheer shot one last blast of air to try and get Korra back, and this time, it hit, as we were a mile of two in the air already. Lin was shaken quite violently, and Korra slipped out of her grasp. She would've slid her cable back down, but it wouldn't have been fast enough.

Mako smacked my arm. "Hey, Yuuto! Go after her!"

"What? Me? What about you? You have fire to push yourself down."

"And I don't have the air currents to keep myself from dying with her!" he yelled, turning me toward the edge.

I grimaced and closed my eyes, briefly imagining the feeling of falling before I changed the direction of my thought to a gravesite; the stone said Avatar Korra, and the cause of death was a drowning in a lake.

It was this thought that spurred my legs to life as I ran and dove off the side of the airship.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**In case you missed the first Author's Note over on Youtube, here's the link! Just put youtube before it**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**How about that cliffhanger, huh? I hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter!**


	3. 3 Misty Palms Oasis Pt 1

The wind rushed past me as I used my airbending to propel myself faster downwards. Several times on the way down, I of course almost hurled, but then I kept remembering the grave site; I wasn't going to be responsible for the death of the Avatar!

"Eyes on Korra…think about Korra…" I said under my breath in an effort to keep my mind occupied.

Soon, I caught up to the Avatar. I grabbed her around the waist with one hand, blowing downward with both a stream from my mouth and from the other hand.

I saw the lake quickly approaching. "_Think about Korra…her face, her body, her bending skills; anything to keep me sane_!" I thought as I felt myself slow down slightly.

I took the opportunity to twist around so I could use both of my feet as well as my other hand to slow myself, which helped immensely.

As I came to approximately a hundred feet above the water, I slowed myself even more, to the point that when i…I mean we reached the water, it was like jumping into a pool.

Underwater, I hoisted Korra onto my shoulder and swam both of us to shore. I did, I tossed Korra onto the sand on the edge and flopped down next to her my arms extended, breathless.

I gazed upward to see the battle still taking place, they had maybe hoped to land back on there and finish the fight, but the four kidnappers were holding them off, though from the looks of it, they were retreating, and eventually I saw I gigantic dust cloud, and then everything was quiet.

I flexed my abs to sit up without the use of my arms, and I wrapped my arms around my knees; both were still shaking from the experience I just underwent.

"Y-you know, I h-hope you're grateful…" I said to the still sedated Korra, who couldn't even respond. "N-Never again; you're on your own next t-time…"

From the corner of my eyes, I thought I saw the smallest hint of a smile, though that could've just been my imagination. When I turned, she still looked rather dead. I went ahead and took the initiative as well by removing the darts that had injected the sedative.

* * *

Day broke, and still nobody had come to get us. I decided that just sitting out here wasn't the brightest of ideas and picked Korra up, going into the nearby forest, just past the tree line, and leapt up onto a large connecting branch between two trees. I lay Korra against the trunk of one of them and I leaned on the other. I eventually calmed myself, my breathing returning to normal and the memories already fading slightly.

Around midday, I finally heard a couple voices, ones that were familiar and friendly. I picked up Korra and hopped back to the ground, approaching Mako and Bolin. "Hey there," I greeted. As soon as they saw Korra, they breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing much," Mako smirked. "Just a couple of friends that we needed to pick up."

We made our way back to the airship, which in turn took us back to Zaofu. Suyin gave Korra a vial of medicine to get the sedatives to wear off, in fact I was surprised that they hadn't worn off already, and she burst to life. With that every could finally be relieved. "It's about time," Mako said, a beat of sweat on his chin.

"What? Where's-" Korra started.

"A couple of people tried to take you. We don't know who they are or where they went."

She held her shoulder where the dart was. "Oh, right…" she trailed off before jumping onto her feet. "Well, I think we should pay them back for that, now shouldn't we?" she demanded, slamming her fists together.

"But we haven't the faintest idea of where they went, or even how they got in. This city is impenetrable; no one could have gotten in without being seen," Suyin insisted, having the utmost confidence in her city.

"Except for the fact that someone just did. Su, you've seen tonight that this place isn't safe!" Lin snapped, to which Bolin stepped between them. "I need to take them back to Republic City immediately."

"Hey, when did you start making my decisions for me?" Korra demanded.

"You don't understand, Avatar; these people are terrorists, trained killers. There's a reason we took such necessary precautions when you were born and even after they were captured the first time."

"And why did you just execute them right then and there?" I inquired. "If they were really that big of a threat, they shouldn't have been left alive."

"Those are the words of a tyrant, not an airbender," Lin countered, sending me a glare which I promptly returned. "Speak out like that again, and I _will_ have you arrested."

"Hey, I'm the one that saved the Avatar's life here; I think I have a right to speak my opinion."

"Well you thought wrong!" Lin snapped once again. Bolin then stepped between us.

"Now, hey, this is not the time for violence. Come on, let's just all forget about the past, and live for the future, and-"

"Little bro, not now," Mako said to him. "It's obvious that they're after Korra, so we could always just keep a closer eye on her."

"Mako," Korra looked appalled. "You know I don't need protection."

"Look, haven't you ever thought that as the _Avatar_ that Korra might have to eventually deal with people like this? Avatar Aang definitely had to at the age of twelve! Korra can defend herself."

"Except unlike Ozai, Korra is up against four people of equal skill and killing intent. She would be no match."

"But I have the Avatar State," Korra reminded everyone. I gestured to her in victory.

"See? There's a way that she could wipe the floor with them."

"She. Is. Not. Going. After. Them!" Lin finalized it.

I growled in frustration. "Fine, then I'll go after them," I said without really thinking.

"Whatever; I couldn't care less about you," she said back, only angering me further. She turned and began walking away.

I growled once again and swiftly turned around, kicking through the air, and sending a cutting air blast through a tree before storming off myself to get my staff.

When I retrieved the item, I made my way to the edge, where I had every opportunity to leave, but then my thinking changed.

What good would looking for them do if they came back to try and take Korra again? If I really wanted to find these guys, and if I really wanted to protect Korra, the best thing to do would be to stay with her. And so, with a defeated sigh and a droop in my shoulders, I retreated back to the tree I had resided in before the battle leaning against the base of its trunk. I stayed there for a while before I thought I felt a pair of eyes watching me. When I looked, however, I saw nothing. Afterwards, I saw a pair of eyes, Korra's, who came to approach me.

"Hey," she greeted as she sat next to me. "I thought you would've left already."

"I guess…"

She turned to me, her eyebrow raised. "'I guess'?" she questioned. "That's all the explanation you're giving me?"

"You bet," I feigned a good mood. "So what about you? Are you going back to Republic City with her?"

"Well, actually, that's what I came to talk about. See, I want to go after those hog monkeys just as much as you do, so why don't we just sneak out tonight?"

"You mean, like, just the two of us?" I asked, turning away as I felt my face becoming red.

"Sure, why not?" she retorted. "What's the problem?"

I shook my head in an effort to blow away the heat. "Nothing; nothing at all. Sure, I'm game."

"And also, I overheard Lin and Suyin talking about possible tracks leading to Misty Palms Oasis. Apparently Aiwei bailed right after the attack for fear of being caught and reports say that he went there."

"Sounds like a plan, although…what about Lin? She won't approve of this in the morning."

"Yeah, I realize, but that's why we're _sneaking_ out," she replied as if it was obvious.

* * *

That night, when we both agreed to escape, we met at the tree after everyone was asleep. Once we met up with each other, we approached the elevator back up to the airship, silently apologizing to Asami and the others for stealing it.

As Korra was about to move us up, we heard a voice from the darkness. "And just where do you think you're going?" a slightly elderly woman's voice came through.

We both sort of freeze-framed and slowly turned around to see Suyin there with her hands on her hips, shooting daggers at us with her gaze. Korra quickly regained her composure. "Please listen; I need to do this. It's my duty as the Avatar to-"

"I know exactly what your duties are, Korra," her gaze didn't falter.

"Would you people just relax? I'll be there to protect her should she need it," I insisted.

"Will you now? Well, if you say so," her glare broke as she turned her head to the said and waved us off. "Alright, have fun, write every now and then."

"What? You're just going to let us go?"

"Well, I'll just tell Lin that you snuck off, playing oblivious. Go on ahead," she said, to which we nodded and turned around. "Oh, and one more thing," we turned back around. "You won't be the only one protecting Korra," she stomped her foot onto the ground and bent the metal of the wall past a corner, revealing the other three members of Team Avatar giving us nervous smiles, except for Mako who never smiled apparently.

Bolin took a couple steps toward us Suyin. "No hard feelings, right?"

"None at all," she answered. Bolin's fists pumped into the air as he let out a quiet "Yes!" With that, we were allowed to leave, the airship roaring to life, hopefully not waking up the others, and we took off toward Misty Palms Oasis.

**Author's Note:**

**Use this link to see behind-the-scenes from the beginning! One for this chapter should be up soon!**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**Hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter!**


	4. 4 Misty Palms Oasis Pt 2

Misty Palms Oasis: the city of the desert. We landed the airship a good mile out from it so as to not attract too much attention, and set out on foot.

Soon, we discovered a fork in the path and it led to a small pathway which ended up being a dead end, but at that dead end, we saw a Satomobile, one that looked like an Earth Kingdom brand. "Alright, we should split up," I said. "Korra and I can go into town on Naga while you three search in and around the vehicle. We'll meet back here at sunset," I said, to which everyone agreed.

With that, Korra got Naga moving and soon we arrived at the entrance to the quote on quote "Oasis." In actuality, it was the last town before the desert, here travelers had the chance to stock up on supplies before their trek; there wasn't an oasis part of the town either; just a bustling town of rumors and trade.

Immediately we got dirty looks from the residents, some carrying weapons. That gave me an idea. "We're in a sand village, so Aiwei can't Metalbend here, and Earthbending would be difficult and ineffective against us; he might be trying to find a way to defend himself."

"Alright; let's find a weapon's shop," Korra agreed, pulling Naga to one of the shopping district streets. Soon, we entered one of the establishments and looked around a bit, not finding any sign of the man, but something did catch my eye.

I picked it up and examined it a little; it was a sword hilt, with a small hole in the top of it, almost as if…whoosh! The sword hilt suddenly sprouted a blade, but not a normal blade, one made of air from my airbending through it.

I smirked, my eyes lighting up at the discovery. "Hey, Korra, come here for a second," I said to get her attention.

"What is it? A new toy?" she asked as she walked over; she stared in amazement when she saw. "Whoa! That's so cool, Yuuto!"

I turned to the man in charge of the shop. "I'll take it."

We walked out of the store, the new wind sword strapped to my belt, and then we walked over to a cantina, exhausted form the heat and also tired of Naga whining for food.

We entered the new building and got a flash of looks from most of the customers, a few in particular giving us _the_ look and then pointed behind us, to the wall near the entrance. It showed wanted posters of Team Avatar and Tenzin. I ripped the one of Mako off and read the claims aloud while Korra listened, keeping weary of the residents watching us. "Charged with…assault on palace guards, prison break, heresy, disobedience…smell…" I trailed off at the last one as I blew it out of the building.

"Right…let's get out of here," Korra said as she walked out after the poster, over to Naga, who was still whining. She rubbed the polar bear-dog's cheeks. "Oh, I know you're hungry, and hot, and tired, but we need to get back to the others."

I patted her side. "Come on girl, one more jog and you're done for the day; there's food back at the airship," I agreed as Korra climbed on. I turned to get on myself, when a familiar face appeared passing by the alley that we were in. "Um, Korra," I pointed, but he was already. "I found our guy."

"What? Where?" she asked as she looked around, her eyes searching frantically in the general direction that I pointed at.

I ignored her as I poked out from behind the corner to see the man himself, Aiwei, entering a doorway and closing it swiftly behind him. Korra slammed her fists together. "Alright, time to go pound-"

"Wait," I pulled her back. "What if those other guys are in there? We can't take them on our own."

"But…alright; let's go get the others."

We both hopped on Naga and turned the other cheek so to speak, and returned to the Satomobile, but found no trace of the others. A bit worried, but more so concerned with stopping Naga's incessant whining, we returned to the airship, where we found the other members of Team Avatar.

"Hey, what are you guys doing back here?" I questioned, to which Mako held up a little not.

"A message to Aiwei saying that he should rendezvous at Xai Bau's Grove; we found it in the back of the Satomobile. We came back here for a map."

"Any luck?"

Asami looked up from her inspection of the map on the table. "Not yet, but it must be somewhere around her, correct? I just…can't seem to find it."

"Well, we have more good news, Korra?" I gestured to her.

She jumped slightly at being put on the spot. "Hey, don't look at me; he saw the guy," she pointed back to me. I frowned, but shrugged in acceptance.

"We found Aiwei; he's staying at an inn in the town. Since we don't know where the rendezvous point is, do you wanna just stake him out and follow him to it?"

"And _then_ we can get back at them for trying to kidnap Korra," Asami agreed. "Alright, let's go."

We decided to rent a hotel room of our own, right across from Aiwei's room. As the seconds of waiting turned to minutes, everyone began to get a bit bored. Bolin and Asami played Pai Sho, Mako watched Aiwei's door intently, and Korra and I just sat round boredly.

"You know," Korra spoke up. "Time always seemed to fly back on Air Temple Island when Tenzin and I had a meditating session," she commented.

"Where'd this come from?"

She shrugged, turning her head away. "I've just been a bit anxious lately is all."

"…Alright," I agreed, sitting beside her. "So how do I meditate?"

She showed me the proper sitting position and simply said to clear my mind and relax, and that it would come to me. As I did so, I felt my muscles relax and I let my mind wander. The sounds of Pai Sho pieces tapping onto the board slowly faded and that last thing I heard before meditation said was "Wow, you're a natural," before everything became completely black.

I burst up in a sea of darkness, my vision only met with a wave of blackness. I immediately noticed that I couldn't feel the ground below me, and I started kicking my legs beneath me, to no avail. My heart rate began picking up, but soon a felt a rather soothing presence, with a hand on my shoulder, firm and kind. "Hey, relax. You're not gonna fall," the presences revealed itself behind me, and floated to be in the center of my vision; a man of about twenty with soft amber eyes and a goatee. His hair was long and disheveled, but he didn't seem to mind it much. "We're free in this place."

I nodded slowly, confused. "So, are you like my subconscious or something?"

"I guess you could think of me that way, yes; though if you want a name to be put to my face, you can call me Wan."

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry about the shorter one. I'll go ahead and put up another today just to make up for it. And if you haven't seen the behind the scenes, you can start here!**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**Hope you're all enjoying!**


	5. 5 Capture

"Wan?" I questioned. "Why…does that name sound familiar?"

"Well, because I'm you, sort of," the man shrugged in a laid-back manner and lay down in the air.

"A little explanation would be appreciated."

"Alright, alright," he waved me off as he took his time cracking his neck and fingers before finally beginning. "I'm sure you've heard about Korra and Harmonic Convergence by now, right?"

I nodded. "It was all over the news on the radio. What about it?"

"Well, I bet you didn't know that the spirit inside Korra, the Avatar Spirit named Raava, was destroyed in that battle, severing Korra's connection with her past lives," he said it as if he were an old man telling old stories to children, with large, exaggerated arm motions.

"Yeah, what of it? That doesn't explain who you are and what it has to do with me."

"I'm getting there," he chided playfully. "Well, connections to past Avatars can't just up and disappear, can they? It'd be like losing your memory; it would eventually come back, unless it was moved to another place, or in this case, another person. All of Korra's past lives have moved from her body to another, each of us have chosen someone, and I, Avatar Wan; the first Avatar, have chosen you. You airbenders are Raava's and the other past lives' final gift to the world, growing the Air Nation anew, and restoring balance between the elements," Wan expounded.

Absolutely none of it sank in before I blurted something stupid out. "So are you gonna be talking to me in my head from now on or…" I trailed off, realizing the ridiculousness of the idea, chuckling lightly to myself at the thought.

"No, I won't, but you can go ahead and contact me anytime you need help or whatever. Otherwise, I'll just be here, inside your spirit."

"Wait, but…why'd you choose me?"

Wan smiled. "Because I like you; you're a real go-getter."

"That can't be it," I said back as my shoulders drooped, disappointed.

"Well okay, how about this? You're special; your spirit is…unbendable, and I can see bright things in your future."

Suddenly, Wan's image rattled and he looked up casually. "What was that?" I wondered, my muscles once again becoming tense.

"Some of these great things aren't that far off either," Wan ignored the shaking and replied calmly, before his image disappeared and I was thrust back into the real world.

I burst up and gasped for air, as if I hadn't breathed in a couple minutes. My eyes darted to the window to see lava and lightning being thrown in the courtyard outside, and my adrenaline roared to life as I jumped through the window.

I saw outside a duel between the lavabender and waterbender of the kidnappers and Mako and Bolin. I shot several blasts of air at their opponents and hurried to their side. I then noticed a distinct lack of two other Team Avatar members; Korra and Asami.

The two enemies launched a devastating offensive that pushed all of us back behind a corner. "Where're the others?" I demanded.

"It turns out that Aiwei was meditating and talking to his boss in the Spirit World. Then all of a sudden these freaks start attacking; Asami grabbed Korra and sped off on Naga. Korra was still meditating, so she couldn't help out and we can't let her fall into enemy hands."

"But now they don't have a bender with them to protect them," I reminded. "Can you two handle things here?"

"No problem," Mako assured me with a swift zip of his finger to create lightning, which he shot past the corner at the approaching terrorists. I took the distraction as a way to grab my staff and get the hell out of there.

I leapt to the top of a building, one not to high so as to frighten me from the height, and took off with the glider spread out, using my airbending to keep myself aloft and raise and lower my height as necessary. I continued like this until I could no longer hear the sounds of the battle behind me and when I spotted the road, I followed it.

Along the way, I finally noticed something off. I landed safely down on the road, and saw Naga unconscious on the side of the road. I shook her head and held my ear to her chest, feeling a decent heartbeat, so at least she was still alive. I shook her a bit more violently and she stirred awake.

"Hey girl, quick, I need you for a minute," As she stood and shook herself, she whimpered and nuzzled her head into me. "I know, they're gone, aren't they?" I asked before I noticed a piece of paper attached to her neck. It had the Earth Queen's seal on it.

I opened the letter and read it aloud.

"To any who would find this, the Avatar is now in my custody and will be sold to any who has the right wallet. Come to the royal palace in Ba Sing Se with the coin for your reward," I recited before throwing the paper down. I nuzzled Naga for a moment before raising her head. "Okay, go back to the airship and wait for Mako and Bolin, okay? I'll go get Korra and Asami. Understand?"

She whimpered, but trudged off slowly back the way I came before breaking into a trot. With that, I jumped back into the air with my glider and flew toward the desert, the most direct path to the Earth Queen's Palace. I didn't know exactly how, but I knew that I couldn't just let Korra be held prisoner like that.

The desert, let's just say, was hot and dry. I was silently begging for water, a real oasis to be exact, but unfortunately I didn't get it. Instead, I got about three hours into my flight before I basically ran out of steam. I landed and decided to go on foot for a couple minutes to regain my strength.

Unfortunately, I couldn't even have this little break, as the sand began to shift beneath my feet, and when I looked around, I saw a large sand wave coming right for me. I managed to roll out of the way before a giant sand shark reared its ugly head above the surface. I shot a blast of air at it and then activated my wind sword, dodging another pass by, this time taking advantage of it, and jumping onto the giant moving dune. When the sand shark rose above the surface to look for me, I was on top of it, and I stabbed my wind sword deep into its back, though all I could feel was soft and rubbery unsurfaced skin.

I leapt off the beast and started running. Unfortunately, I had no way to combat this thing and live, so I just ran, and I didn't have enough energy left to fly. I used what I had regained just to activate the blasted wind sword, and it didn't do me any good!

Then suddenly, an earthquake overtook both of us, but it wasn't really an earthquake, as a gigantic paw rose out of the sand and smashed down onto the sand shark, effectively killing it, burying it in the sand.

I stopped in awe of the paw, and it wasn't the only thing to surprise me. What looked like a tower of a turtle shell rose out soon after, followed by a giant lion's head, which stared down at me with withered eyes.

"_I must thank you for helping in my getting rid of that nuisance,_" it spoke slowly, clearly, deeply, and all of its words were lined with wisdom and power. "_May I ask your name?_"

**Author's Note:**

**How about that?**

**Anyway, here's the full behind-the-scenes, reasons-why, kind of thing:**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**Please read and review, and I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter!**


	6. 6 Lion Turtle

"_May I ask your name?_" its booming voice requested.

"I'm, uh…Yuuto, sir…"

"_Yuuto…I feel a familiar presence within you…interesting…I sense great promise in you, must like I felt when the Avatar was given wisdom by one of my brothers."_

'Korra's met one of these things before?' I thought, though I let it continue speaking.

"_Many years ago, in the time before the Avatar, we watched over you humans, allowing you to build cities on our shells, but that time has long since passed, and now one a few of us remain. I am the lion turtle of Earth and all of its forms, including the sand you're standing on."_

"Well, I'm…honored to be standing where you govern," I said respectfully. "So, do I like…get something? For helping you I mean?"

"_You request assistance? I would be glad to."_

I thought about what I wanted, before an idea popped into my head. "You said you control the Earth, right? Can you give me that, like…Seismic Sense thing that some earthbenders have?"

"_Unless Raava has joined with you as well, you may only control one element at a time,"_ it explained, to which my shoulder drooped once again in disappointment. "_Although, I believe this ability with prove of some use to you; the Avatar has used it to defeat many a foe. I sense a spirit that I have no felt in years dwelling inside you."_

"Cool, so…what is it?"

"_Before the Era of the Avatar, my people used to care for you humans, but we did provide for you. Instead, we bent the energy within you to give you the power of the elements. This is the power I bestow upon you, but be warned; in order to bend another's energy, your own must be fiercer, more powerful…unbendable."_

The lion turtle lifted its paw from the sand and lifted two of its claws, and touched them to my forehead and chest.

"_The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light."_

The words spilled from my mind as the power within me welled up and then died back down. As the lion turtle took its paw away, as I felt my body up and down. "I feel…like a new person!" I cried.

"_That is good. Is there anything else that you require?"_

"Actually, I'm looking for a couple of Earthbenders who kidnapped my friends. Do you know if they made it through the desert yet?"

"_Actually, I can feel the vibration of an airship due south west from here._"

"Oh man! This day just keeps getting better and better! Thank you so much, lion turtle of Earth. If you ever need some company I'd be happy to lend you some!" I said as I flew off in the direction that he had specified. I flew faster than I had before, and I caught up to the airship in question rather quickly.

Unfortunately, I had to fly a bit higher than I would've liked, but I had plenty of energy to spare, so it wasn't too big a weight on my conscience. I circled the airship a few times to look in all the windows before finally finding the one I was looking for.

"Oh, I wish I'd had him chain me to that wall over there; it would break so much more easily," Asami moaned. I veered to my right slightly and then made a head-first dive through the window, retracting my staff at the last minute.

I landed gracefully in front of the two captured women. "Ta-da!" I said a bit quietly, so as to not attract attention. The two looked at me like I was crazy. "Huh? What?"

I looked to Korra, who had her mouth covered so she couldn't shoot fire from it, and restrained with a straight jacket and everything. "What are you doing here?" she questioned. "Or rather, why did you come sooner?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "You told me to meditate," I replied. "So I did; I couldn't really control when I got out. But anyway, now that your 'knight in shining armor' has arrived, couldn't you spare a little gratitude?" I questioned.

"Who said that?" the door burst open, revealing one of the Queen's Guard, a younger one.

"My hero," Korra's muffled voice said sarcastically, her eyelids lowering.

"So much for being quiet," I said as I blasted the man with wind from my staff back into the wall, knocking him unconscious. I activated my wind sword and cut both of them free, Korra soon removing the muzzle. "Alright, what's next?"

"Depends; where's Mako and Bolin?"

"They were fighting two of the guys that tried to kidnap you."

Korra looked worried for them and slightly angry at me. "And you just left them?"

"They said they could handle it," I tried to defend myself.

"Please! Those morons couldn't handle a little lemur on the hottest day, standing on the purest earth! We need to go back to help them."

"Alright, then the first step is to take this airship," Asami said as she rubbed her wrists. "Let's go."

We made our way through the small space and I kicked the door down, sending one of the men flying through the window, Korra soon kicked the other man into the radio, effectively destroying it, and knocking the older man unconscious, but the controls were otherwise undamaged.

Asami quickly took the wheel, and turned us around, the airship flying fast and hard. As we flew, I felt Korra's eyes on me. I shrugged. "What? You aren't still mad about me not coming in time, are you?"

"No, it's not that, it's just…you seemed different somehow…" she leaned in closer, making my cheeks get hot. "Oh! Your eyes, they're just like…" she trailed off.

"Wan," the name blurted itself out.

Korra looked accusingly at me. "How do you know about Avatar Wan?"

"Well, it's just…I'd read up on the world's history before the Earth Queen captured me. Wan was, what, the fifth Avatar?" I lied, scratching the back of my head.

"He was the first, and the one who came out victorious at the last Harmonic Convergence," she corrected as she stepped closer, crossing her arms.

I pulled out my staff, and stepped away from her, my emotions getting a bit whacky as my cheeks got hotter from being in such close proximity to Korra. "I'll fly on ahead and see if they're still there," I said before jumping out the front window and flying a bit lower, so as not to wrack my nerves.

Once I finally made is back to the Oasis, I couldn't find any of the combatants, and instead spotted a familiar face entering the cantina, outside of which was a sleeping dragon. Now I've seen everything.

I landed gracefully and entered the building to see three standout people, one of which was Lin, who stormed up to me.

"Hey you, mister bodyguard, where's Korra?" she demanded.

I held my hand up in defense. "Hey, relax, she's on her way. What you doing here, and who're they?" I motioned to her friends. One was dressed in a traditional firebending robe, the reds and oranges standing out, and the other in water tribe attire much like Korra's. The water tribesman approached me and shook my hand.

"Hello, my name is Tonraq. I'm the leader of the southern water tribe and Korra's father. You must be one of the new airbenders that Tenzin had been raving about last time I saw him."

"Yeah, I am. And who's…"

The elderly man stood slowly and approached us. Tonraq addressed the man. "This is Lord Zuko, the former firelord and one of the most powerful firebenders alive," he answered. Realizing who it was, I gave a respectful bow. He had aided Avatar Aang in defeat firelord Ozai seventy years ago and who one of Aang's closest friends from the stories people tell.

"It's a pleasure," Zuko said, bowing back. His voice was surprisingly clear for someone his age. "It pains me that we could not meet in more pleasant circumstances."

"Korra's would-be kidnappers?" I asked, to which they all nodded.

"They are the Red Lotus; Zaheer, the new airbender, P'Li, the combustion bender, Ghanzan, the lavabender, and Ming-Hua, the waterbender. They are anarchists who mean to only bring destruction and chaos to the world, believing it would bring clarity unseen by any," Tonraq explained. "They attempted to kidnap Korra thirteen years ago, but we imprisoned them, and it seems that they still haven't learned."

"Well, with this many powerful benders, we could just storm their place, right?"

"Wrong," Korra's voice came from the entrance, and we all turned to see her and Asami approaching. "They have Mako and Bolin. None of them are here and Zaheer said he was going to present them to the Earth Queen to-"

The radio in the cantina made a screeching sound before it died down and a voice came from it which I was uneasy with. "Avatar, I know that are you listening, and I would implore to listen well. The Earth Queen is no more; darkness has overtaken her and her palace. Ba Sing Se has been liberated and is enjoying the first period of freedom in over millennia. Your…Mako and Bolin…are here as well, enjoying their safety in the palace prison. Come and get them if you question that safety, and remember, that-"

Korra shot a fireball at the radio and grabbed mine and Asami's arm. "We're leaving," she ordered.

"Wait!" Tonraq stopped her. "This is obviously a trap."

"I don't care! My friends could be dying!" she snapped at her father.

"Think about this rationally; Zaheer knows the compassion you have for your friends and is using it to his advantage,' her father stated, crossing his arms. "You may not like to stay here and be protected, but this time, even you must see the importance of keeping you safe."

Korra's arms were shaking in frustration. I could tell that she hated not being able to do anything. She finally threw her hands up and sat down, cross-legged. "I'm going to talk to Zaheer."

About three and a half hours later, after a couple shifts of watching the entrance, a couple of idiots walked through the front door, Mako and Bolin. Actually, we had all heard an airship landing and were preparing to fight, but it just turned out to be these two.

Korra and Tonraq immediately began healing them of bruises and cuts from their battle. "How'd you two get out? Zaheer said he left you guys in Be Sing Se while the city went to chaos," I questioned.

"What? But Zaheer's the one that let us out. He said that he's giving you a choice; you can either turn yourself into him, or he's going to wipe out the new Air Nation."

**Author's Note:**

**Yay! Making reference to the original show and season two of this show! Yay (totally unsarcastically)!**

**If you want behind-the-scenes, use this link! Just put youtube in front of it,a and it should work!**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**Hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter!**


	7. 7 Complications

_Flashes appeared in my vision as I slept, I saw horrible things, falling, drowning, burning to death…so many ways that the Red Lotus could end me, as one of the new Air Nation. I have to say that as much as I hate heights, drowning would be the worst; it would just be so slow and agonizing._

_I silently begged for someone, anyone to pull me out of this hellish nightmare, when no one came I just had to grin and bear it, waiting for morning to come._

_Suddenly, a bright light enveloped my vision, and a strong hand reached out for me, I reached for it as well, and when we gripped each other's wrists, the world suddenly burst into a world of bright and soothing light, and leaning into me was my savior, the bright light which I held onto so dearly, as if my life depended on it._

"_Korra…" her name breathed itself out of my mouth, but neither of us stirred, and the dream became clear to me because this close contact wasn't making me feel uncomfortable in the least, it just felt so…right…_

_I could hear her every breath, feel her every heartbeat, and just knew that I never wanted to move again. Alas, some unknown force started to move us apart, we reached for each other again, but this time it only seemed to pull us farther apart. Korra's eyes weren't the radiant blue either, they were engulfed in a terrifying sky blue/white color, and one of her arms was in chains, and then another, and then her legs, until she was suspended in front of me, and I couldn't move._

_Then a shadowy figure appeared and took a stance I was all too familiar with. It moved forward suddenly, toward me, and attacked while I watched Korra writhe in pain._

I woke up, strangely, quite peacefully. Shaken, yes, but still without any disturbances. I simply opened my eyes, and relaxed, the same soothing presence from my dream coming back once again, and when I looked, Korra was leaning into me. We had both been sleeping on the airship and just so happened to be sleeping right next to each other; she must have fallen into me during her dream. Now her arm was wrapped around my chest and she was snuggling her head into my neck.

Sadly, the dream was done, and my earthly faults once again took over as my entire face became, likely, as red as a hog monkey's behind.

I heard the door open, and when I looked, I saw Asami stifling a laugh. I shot her a quick glare before moving slightly away from Korra, only to have her move with me, her arm's grip growing a bit tighter. "A little help here?" I whispered. Asami held her arms up.

"Sorry, but this is too priceless," she said between silent laughs. "She'll wake up soon, but for now, go ahead and comfort her. She'll need that sense of security," she said as she turned around and left.

Asami was right; Korra had given in and we were on our way back to Zaofu to send a signal to Zaheer. She was going to give herself up and she would need all of the emotional support to keep up her steely hotheadedness and not give into her fear.

Man, why did Zaheer of all people have to be given airbending? What Avatar would actually choose him…? Wait…what Avatar _would_ choose him? Why? I suddenly had so many questions that I was dying to have answer, and made a mental note to ask Wan through meditation before we got to Zaofu. Until then, I just accepted the quiet and Korra's soft breathing into my neck.

Eventually, I felt her stir, and when she looked up at me, her eyes still glazed and only half open, I smiled. She then realized the position we were in and fumbled up. "You were, I mean, we were…You…didn't…" she was lost for words, which I had to laugh at. "What's so funny?" she demanded, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I just thought the Avatar would be a little more conservative; that's all," I teased her.

"Shut up, you…you…" she sighed and threw her arms up.

"Whatever, no problem. I had my little freak-out too; blame Asami for not helping me get us untangled," I said as I assumed a meditative position.

"Oh, I'll do more than blame her!" she exclaimed as she left the room. I slowly felt myself drift as once again I was met with the blackness of meditation, Wan meeting me there.

"Hey! That didn't take long," he greeted. "What's up?"

"I want to know which Avatar chose Zaheer," I got straight to the point. Wan frowned. "You do know who I'm talking about?"

"Of course I do, undoing all of the work me and the other Avatar's have done to restore balance and peace; he's a disgrace to benders the world over. Zaheer wasn't chosen by an Avatar of Raava, but of the Avatar of Vaatu, Unalaq."

"So he-"

"He was given powers to destroy the world," Wan said as his image disappeared once again, and the real world set in.

I felt eyes watching me, and as I stood, Korra peeked her head fully out from the doorway. "You up already?" she asked, already over earlier. "Because we're here."

Once we landed, we all rushed to the radio and found the right station to broadcast over to the man. As we tuned in, we heard the ending of a large scale battle. "N…til…last…breath…" we heard a static version of Tenzin, sounded injured and exhausted. Before we heard him grunt and the sounds of several forms of bending being thrown.

I clenched my fist and slammed my fist down. "Zaheer!" I yelled, grabbing the mic. "I know you can hear us!"

The bending stopped and then a moment of silence before the man answered. "Of course; you're right on time. I assume the Avatar is there?"

Korra grabbed the mic. "I'm here, Zaheer."

"Have you thought about my offer?"

"Of course I have."

"And?" he demanded, obviously becoming impatient.

"Fine, I'll give myself up. Just…don't hurt the other airbenders."

"That was the deal," he said calmly. "Meet me at Laghima's Peak at noon tomorrow. Alone."

"Fine, I'll be there," Korra said as she walked out, mentally preparing herself no doubt. I grabbed the mic once again, and what I said next drew me concerned looks from the others.

"Zaheer, listen well. You may not know who I am now, but if you do anything to the other airbenders, I'll make sure you remember me as the one who beat you, brutally and painfully," I threatened before storming out myself.

I went back to the airship, where I found Korra being comforted by Naga. She noticed me watchfully and took a deep breath. "Hey, what's up?" she wondered.

I crossed my arms. "I don't like it."

"What? That Zaheer would stoop to taking the airbenders hostage or that I'm giving myself up to save them?" she asked sarcastically, obviously agreeing with my statement.

"Both," I answered. I walked up to her. "You're the Avatar and yet you can do nothing except give up?" I questioned which he made her look sad; immediately I retracted. "I mean…there _has_ to be another way, right?"

"My mind is made up; this is the right thing to do…I think…" She obviously didn't want to talk about it. "…I overheard what you said earlier; you didn't mean it, did you? You're an airbender, not an Ozai Sympathizer."

I lowered my eyebrows. "I meant every word. I don't exactly take kindly to lying terrorists," I said, a steely gaze directed at Korra. "I thought you of all people would respect that."

"Of course I do, but at this rate you could become as much of an extremist as they are, or that Amon was. I just…don't think that this is the right path."

As I thought about what she said, and thinking more on it, I put my hand on her shoulder. "Then how about this; I'm going to join you in your quest to restore balance, and the best way to do that is to follow and protect you. Whatever attitude you think I should have, whatever decision you'll make, I'll always support it; promise," I said, which got her cheeks to turn red.

"Follow? You mean, like, forever?"

Realizing what I said, I removed my hand and turned away. "Well, I mean, if that's what it takes, I guess," my voice was shier and a bit quieter. An awkward silence rose between us, one which lasted for a long time. "Alright," I said finally. "I'm gonna go discuss the plan with Lin and the others," I explained before I crept out of the door.

As I began walking through Zaofu, I heard a voice. "Wow, smooth, Yuuto," Mako's voice filled my ears as he began following me.

"You heard that?" I questioned.

"Every word."

"And you did that because…?"

"Because I thought it was hilarious. You know, despite how she seems, she's not exactly girlfriend material."

My face got hot. "Girlfriend? With me? No way! I mean, I just met her a week ago."

"Two weeks," he corrected; his grin bigger than I've ever seen it. "And besides, we started dating two weeks after we met, and-"

"Okay, first; why are you smiling? You never smile, and second; maybe that's the reason why you two didn't work out."

"So you _do_ like her," Bolin's voice came next, coming out from a corner behind Mako. "I had a suspicion."

"Not you too…" I moaned, face-palming. "Did you both-"

"Yup, heard it all," Bolin said, though seeing my embarrassment, put his hand on my shoulders. "Hey, relax. We both know what it's like to like the Avatar."

"But I _don't_ like her!" I insisted before retracting, quietly asking "Do I?"

Bolin shrugged. "Depends, have you dreamed about her? Do you think about her every day? Have you ever done anything for each other?"

"Um…yes, yes, and yes," I admitted to the dreaming part. "But that could've been-"

"Yup, you're definitely into her."

"But I…okay, say I was; why would that be a problem? Why isn't she…girlfriend material?" it was embarrassing just to say the words.

"Mako, if you would," Bolin motioned to his brother.

"Yuuto, you gotta understand; she's the Avatar. She has a duty that you and I aren't a part of. Not only that, but her temper…" he grimaced as if remembering something horrible, getting lost in thought. "Like at the Southern Water Tribe…" he once again focused. "Anyway, unless you have the patience of an Avatar yourself, then I suggest you look somewhere else."

"But I told you; I don't have those kinds of feelings for her."

"Yeah, right. Don't worry man, I know what it's like," Mako said before he patted my shoulder and he and Bolin walked off, leaving me thinking about myself.

A while later, we were discussing the plan of attack. We weren't just going to sit by and watch Korra be taken again, at least if the Red Lotus didn't uphold their end of the deal. I pointed to one side of the cliff on the map. "Alright, Suyin and Lin and the Metal Clan can hang out by the top from their cables," I offered as several ideas were being thrown.

"What about the rest of us?" Mako questioned.

"You, Bolin, and Asami are going to the Northern Air Temple to get the airbenders," Korra said, to which they agreed. "And dad, you can be with Lin and Suyin to help there."

"When I see the Metal Clan strike, I'll fly up and help too. I'll be sure to nail the bastard if he's lying," I slammed my fists together, drawing a look of understanding from Korra. "If that combustion bender comes, the Metal Clan can distract her while Tonraq, Korra, and I get Zaheer."

"And if Ghanzan is there, we can encase his hands in metal; he may be a lavabender, but he sure as hell isn't a metalbender," Lin assured us. "And if Ming-Hua is there, Tonraq can battle evenly with her, and with the rest of us helping, she shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright, if everyone is prepared, let's go!"

**Author's Note:**

**And things are drawing near to the end!**

**For some behind-the-scenes, add youtube before this link!**

** /GzAYsIKhswc**

**Hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter!**


	8. 8 Void

When we arrived at the base of the mountain, Mako and his group broke off, dropping "just Korra" off to have her date with Zaheer. When I looked up, I found that I could barely see forty feet up because of the fog, and realized that the plan for me wouldn't work. "I guess we've got to alter the plan a bit," I said to Lin. "Can I count on you to keep me up until the time comes?" I asked her.

"No problem, kid," she replied.

When I looked, Korra looked worried. "You sure, Yuuto? That…high up?"

I gave her a thumbs-up. "The fog will help…I hope anyway," I said before looking up once again. I walked up to her, and handed her my staff. "Here…for safe keeping."

She accepted it. "You do know that he'll either take it or make me leave it on the top, right?"

"I know, but it's the thought that counts, right?" I asked to which she nodded. "Let's do this."

Korra strapped on her portable radio, and Lin hers, and we began scaling the mountain. I hung on desperately to Lin's shoulders, trying to ignore the feeling of rising. When we neared the top, we stopped, and allowed Korra to climb the rest of the way.

"Avatar Korra, lay down your weapon," Zaheer's voice filled my ears, clearly heard from down here. Just the sound of him made my blood boil.

"He better not be lying," I threatened, to which Lin nodded.

Korra spoke next. "Not until you release the airbenders."

"I will release them only when you have laid down your weapon and come to us; take too long and I will have them wiped out," he answered, an edge forming in his voice. Another pause ensued, and nothing was heard until Zaheer said "Wipe them out!"

"Wait! Wait, here," Korra's voice was lined with desperation as I heard the staff hit the ground and her feet moving.

"Scratch that order," Zaheer said slowly, before I heard the faint sound of cuffs and then the radio dropping. Time seemed to go in slow motion during this period of waiting. It seemed like I was waiting for an eternity before suddenly we got a call from Mako.

"Wait, no! It's a trap! Korra, don't turn yourself in!" he yelled into the mic as we heard lava on the other side. "Chief, get Korra out of there!"

Lin grabbed my clothes and shot up with her cables, propelling us up. When we broke the surface, we saw Korra wrestling herself away and jumping and kicking fire at Zaheer to put distance between them. Lin threw me down toward my staff, just as P'Li, who was the only one there, shot toward it.

As soon as I grabbed it, I rolled to stop myself and, with a grunt, shot air in a powerful upwards arc, making the blast detonate well before it got close.

I dashed to the side as Lin and the Metal Clan took over the fight with P'Li as I rushed toward Korra's losing battle. As Korra jumped and kicked once again, this time with air, I leapt over her and let out my own kick before rushing forward exchanging barrages of air with Zaheer, only to be knocked away as we approached the edge. I rolled under Korra as she jumped again, and blew her toward Zaheer to have her kick fire as him point-blank.

Korra rolled back to me as we prepared to fight once again, silently wondering where Tonraq was. Suddenly I heard a popping sound behind us coming closer, and I quickly grabbed Korra and jumped out of the way, yelling "Look out!"

Zaheer took his chance and launched several air swipes toward us, with us still recovering from the near-point blank explosion.

The air blasts knocked me back toward P'Li, and it tripped Korra up before smashing her back into the ground. I narrowly dodged another explosion, hiding behind where Lin and Suyin were holed up shooting rocks at the combustion bender while the other Metal Benders were, seemingly, cyclically getting knocked off the edge and then coming back up with their cables. I once attempted to run out and get back to the fight with Zaheer, but no matter what I did, I couldn't predict when the explosion was coming.

"A little help?" I requested. "I need one of you to distract her for just a couple of seconds."

"I can handle it," Suyin offered as she ran out to the left, while I ran out to the right. We both shot out our respective element at her before Suyin kept up with her assault. P'Li simply bobbed and weaved through the rocks, flipping over one in particular and shot at me while she was upside down. "Look out, Yuuto!"

I turned around and saw the distortion coming right for me, coming to a head right in front of me. Time seemed to stop as, in desperation, I held my hand close to it and shot the strongest gust of air I had in me. The combined force from the explosion and the air blast sent me flying away, past the fight with Korra, in which I saw her behind forced onto the airship. I extended my glider and turned around, trying to make it back before they got on, but I knew I wouldn't make it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tonraq burst up to the surface of the battle with water whips, and smashed them into Zaheer, knocking him back and Korra off the platform. He quickly took action as he reached down with his other water whip and tossed her back up, allowing her to propel herself back onto the platform with airbending while Tonraq cut the airship off of its connection to the platform, causing it to float away with no one at the controls. I took my chance and retract my glider, diving head first down to the platform, flipping, and throwing in a downward kick, creating an extremely potent air slice right as Zaheer. The impact was so powerful that I'd say the point-bank explosion was softer.

With Korra and Tonraq on one side and me on the other with my staff at the ready, Zaheer was surrounded. "Nowhere to run, Zaheer!" Tonraq yelled before attacking the man with his water. Korra and I periodically exchanged bending with the man while Tonraq took the forefront of the confrontation, and seemed to battle evenly with him. I leapt over the battle and over to Korra to face him with her.

"Get these things off!" she yelled, holding up her wrists which were shackled with what seemed like platinum so she couldn't bend it. I activated my wind sword and raised my arm to strike down, but before I could, we were both blasted off by Zaheer. I reacted fast as I grabbed Korra and propelled her up with my airbending, doing my best to avoid the feeling of falling. I then extended my glider and few back up and shot my own blasting retaliation.

All three of us took the offensive, landing long and complicated combos on Zaheer together, though that soon came to an end with an explosion being directed toward Tonraq. As soon as the popping was heard, I turned around and pushed the man out of the way, once again shot and air blast at it to detonate it prematurely. Tonraq took this opportunity of distraction to launch one more assault on Zaheer, trying to make him yield, eventually, with Korra's help, getting him off balance and jumping, forming his water into ice, and smashing downwards, only to realize that Zaheer had jumped out of the way.

Zaheer took the initiative by shooting two blasts, one high and one low, both of which hit and shot Tonraq off the edge. "Dad! No!"

I took action almost immediately, but I wasn't as close to the edge this time, and I had to waste valuable seconds running toward it before jumping off and diving. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zaheer launch another offensive and knew I made a mistake, but was already in freefall and close to saving Tonraq. I thought maybe, just maybe, we could both get back up and save Korra, but we were too far down by the time I reached him to shoot him back up and my glider could only carry one. I ended up retracting my glider and activating my wind sword, thrusting it firmly into the side of the mountain, securing us both into the side, just above the fog line. Unfortunately, I had to drop my staff to grab Tonraq with my other hand.

I finally heard the last popping sound I ever will, and then a bright light engulfed the platform, followed by a brief moment of silence as the Metal Clan most likely approached Zaheer, who most likely had Korra by now. I couldn't hear what was going on, but the silence was brutal on my nerves. I couldn't look down, or else just the fog would freak me out at this point. So instead I looked up, and finally saw the strangest thing I've ever seen; Zaheer fell off the side of the mountain, only to catch himself, carrying an unconscious Korra, on nothing; Zaheer was flying. He wasn't even using airbending; he was just flying. And after he looked up briefly, he flew off, riding the air itself.

Suddenly, I had this giant emptiness in my head and heart.

Soon, Lin and Suyin helped us both back up onto the platform, and I sat there, stunned. "Did he just _fly_ away?" Tonraq demanded. "Can airbenders even do that?" he questioned me. I slowly shook my head.

"She's…gone…I've failed…" I muttered, my eyes wide with spiritual agony. "What…What is this void in my heart?" I wondered. Then I was hit by a bolt of lightning. "This pain…I…love her…" I mumbled as tears began to fall from my eyes.

Tonraq put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll find her; I'll make sure of that."

"Like hell we will!" I yelled pushing him away with my airbending. "We don't have the first clue where he'll take her!" The others stared at me with shock at my outburst, my sadness now replaced with anger, and then, seeing the shock of the others, sadness again. "I…I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to lash out at you, Tonraq…" I said sadly, turning away, ashamed at my lack of self-control. "Let's just…go back and try and figure something out…"

We scaled back down the mountain, with me now in too depressed a state to even worry about heights, and we approached the area where we agreed they would come to get us. When we arrived, however, we only saw one adult and one child Bison, with one of the airbenders that Tenzin was training, Tenzin himself, and the others.

Tenzin looked horrible; his body was battered and I could tell he had a couple broken bones from being brutalized by the Red Lotus. The idea only made me angrier at my failure. The little airbender, who I later learned was named Kai, gave us extremely good news; he knew where they took the other airbenders and in proxy where they took Korra.

The news set off my quote-on-quote "bodyguard mode" as Lin later would call it, as I began rushing everyone. "Hey, come on. Let's get going!" I urged them all onto the bison. "We have to hurry, or else they'll-"

"Wait, Yuuto," Suyin said. "My people are battered and need medical attention."

"Can you hold out for a day or two?" I demanded, impatient beyond belief. She nodded slowly. "Then we'll come back to pick you up on an airship, _after_ we save Korra."

"Don't forget about the other airbenders," Kai said as he boarded his bison, to which I waved him off.

Suyin told one of her people, Kuvira I think I heard, to watch over everyone while she was gone. The others soon boarded, but then I remembered something.

"I'll meet you guys in the air, don't turn until I catch up; I'm going to find my glider. I dropped it near here."

The others nodded and took off. I made a mental note of the direction and then ran off to find the staff and then to the Red Lotus Headquarters.

**Author's Note:**

**IMPORTANT!**

**I am discontinuing the vlog type of Author's Note after this chapter. Instead, I'll be doing something else and only for special chapters, like the next one.**

**Additionally, the next chapter will be delayed because I want the video to go up on the same day, so yeah...there that...**

**Anyway, next time; the finale of part 1!**


	9. 9 Unbendable

I found my glider a couple minutes later stuck in a tree, before taking off and quickly catching up to the others. I landed on Oogi, Tenzin's bison, and immediately started tapping my foot. "Patience," Tenzin said, still exhausted. "We won't get there any faster with you incessantly tapping your foot."

"If I knew where the place was, I would fly ahead and take them on myself," I said with a glare at Tenzin for ordering me around in this state.

"Why do you want so badly to be the hero?" Mako questioned, obviously getting annoyed. "It's not like we don't want to help Korra too, you know."

"I refuse to let her get hurt when I can do something about it!" I snapped.

"That is a noble trait, one you've shown from the very beginning," Tenzin commented as a question popped up in my head.

"Oh yeah! Tenzin, at the end of the fight, Zaheer flew away, like just flew away without using airbending. Do you know how he did that?"

Tenzin's good eye widened for a moment before he lowered it, deep in thought. "Guru Laghima…he discovered the secret to weightlessness, of flight. His secret he shared with the world through the words 'Let go of your earthly tether. Empty, and become wind.'" He explained. "But no airbender has been able to do it since Guru Laghima himself…of all people, why can Zaheer do it?"

"Let go your earthly tether…" I mumbled. "But if he really let go, then he wouldn't still want to hurt Korra or the nations, right? Why's he still doing that and can fly? It doesn't make sense."

"I will meditate one it later; for now, we must focus on saving Korra."

"No way; I'm meditating on it now," I asserted, taking the position.

"You know how to-"

"Korra taught me; it's actually pretty easy," I said before getting lost in the darkness again.

This time, Wan looked serious from the get-go. "Yes? I can sense that you're disturbed."

"It's Zaheer, he can fly and yet he didn't follow what you have to do to fly, according to Guru Laghima."

"Yeah, that's strange. Still, I don't know what to tell you, since I never flew in my lifetime."

"What if…what if Laghima was wrong about the requirements?"

"You mean like he misinterpreted them?"

"Exactly, what if-"

Our meeting was cutting exponentially short as his image disappeared, and I woke to Bolin shaking me. "Hey! We're here!"

I burst up, only to sit back down from being off balance on a still-flying bison. "By here, I thought you meant we landed!" I cried, shaking slightly from the event, everyone sharing a cautious laugh, knowing what was ahead of us. Son, we landed in a couple of abandoned airbender caves, and we all unloaded ourselves. "Alright, Mako, Bolin, Tonraq, and I will go and save Korra, the rest of you focus on finding the other airbenders. Once you find them come back here, and if you're able enough, help in fighting the Red Lotus," I explained, to which no one argued. "Everyone ready? Let's do this!"

As we entered, Mako lit a fire and took the lead, though was quickly outdone by natural light as we discovered that this was a cave of crystals, shining sparkling crystals. Soon, we came to a dead end, and Suyin and Lin took the forefront, using their earthbending to make a path for us.

Eventually, the wall broke out, allowing Lin to shoot it at a guard, who, conveniently, was about to attack the airbenders. Suyin and the others sighed in relief as I took out the other guard that was standing there, and Asami knocked him out with her shock glove, soon moving to the airbenders to help get their chains off. I turned to Mako and Tonraq. "Let's hurry and look Korra."

"You don't have to look," one of the airbenders said, one of Tenzin's daughters I believe. "I know where she is."

She led us to a three-way intersection and pointed down the right path, leaving to our duties.

We came out to a clearing, and my nightmare returned; Korra chained in an X-shaped pattern, helpless as she writhed in pain, her eyes slowly changing from her normal radiant blue to the bright blue, dead, lifeless eyes from my dream.

The only difference was the shadow; it was replaced with Zaheer and his two cronies. "Zaheer!" I yelled to get his attention. "Let Korra go!"

"I have no qualms with you, my fellow airbender. This is not your fight."

The air around me became denser as my anger rose once again. "You made it my fight when you tried to kill the woman I love!" I yelled.

"Y-You…" Korra choked before writhing once again, her eyes consistently changing from normal to blue and back to normal again. I dashed forward to strike. I swiped down hard with my staff to attack, but he simply flew up above it.

He turned to me for just a moment before flying through a small hole, big enough for me and my glider, just barely. "Get back here, you bastard!"

I leapt up and extended my glider, flying through the hole after Zaheer, quickly picking up speed. "Help Korra!" I heard Tonraq order before I left.

I quickly realized that the hole was getting smaller, soon too small for my glider. I retracted it and blew air from my feet to continue moving, eventually coming out through the side of the mountain after Zaheer.

I had lost track of him after he made it out, and I looked around as I extended my glider once again, before being blasted out of the sky by the monster. I quickly regained my composure as I turned to him and kicked air at him, but he dodged the attack.

"What did you do to Korra? How do I fix it?!" I demanded to know, catching up to Zaheer, and using my staff to swat him downwards onto one of the pillars in the area. I landed in front of him and activated my wind sword, giving a quick stab with it. I leaned out of the way and blasted me away.

"It's too late! The poison will force her into the Avatar State, and then we will end her suffering, ending the Avatar Cycle forever!" he called back as he jumped back off.

"No! I won't let you!" I said as I jumped after him.

"And _that_ is why you will fail! You are still held down by your earthly desires for attachment, and yet I have experienced true freedom!" he sun while flying to create a small tornado which he flung at me. I just barely managed to fly over it.

"Like hell you have! You're still bound to the Red Lotus! And you can't tell me that you don't care about Ghanzan and Ming-Hua!" I called back, shooting several blasts toward him.

We made it to a large platform and both landed, exchanging several blasts and barrages of air, some of them knocking us off and forcing us to fly back up. As he ran toward me, I sidestepped and sent a wave of air under his feet, throwing him off balance and allowing me to nick him with my wind sword. This only made him annoyed however as he launched an offensive. "I'll have you know, before I had airbending, I could still fight evenly with the greatest benders the world had to offer. What makes you think you can beat me?"

He managed to get up close to me, where he easily over powered me in hand-to-hand combat; he seemed like a master martial artist. he once again knocked me off of the platform, and when I came back up, he sent a powerful wave right in my stomach, separating me from my glider. I attempted to propel myself toward it, but Zaheer flew right into me and pushed me further away. He flipped through the air and then threw me onto a little alcove in the rocks. I tried to slow myself down, but it didn't help with the impact all too much.

I struggled to pick myself up. "What happened, boy? What happened to the part where you beat me brutally?" he demanded, flying past and attacking me with airbending, tossing me mercilessly onto another alcove. I landed hard on my arm, scraping it up. I stood a bit quicker this time, able to avoid Zaheer's attack as he landed. He got up close yet again. I tried to cut his with my wind sword, but he quickly knocked it out of my hands and pushed me up against the wall and threw me to the ground, grabbing my leg and yanking on it violently. I screamed and then bit my lip to hold back another scream. "Do you yield?"

"Not until…I draw my last breath," I struggled out as I stood, leaning on my good leg. Zaheer grew a twisted grin.

"Funny; that's exactly what Master Tenzin said before he was subdued," he said before blasting me with hard air, again and again, until I fell down again, and I didn't have the strength to get back up. He frowned then and kneeled down to me. "Let this be a warning; I have to qualms with you, but if you get in our way again, the Red Lotus will pay you back tenfold," he threatened as he stood back up.

He began walking away before we heard a rumbling, and Korra, her eyes now permanently stuck in the light blue, came bursting out. Her limbs were no longer chained, though she wrapped one of the chains around her right arm possibly for use as a weapon.

Zaheer immediately avoided Korra by flying away, effectively saving my life. "Zaheer!" she yelled, though it was like her voice was being shared with another being. She shot fire and air simultaneously at Zaheer, forcing him to retreat.

I watched as the battle unfolded. It appeared that Korra had the advantage for the majority of it, though she gradually became slower and less powerful. She began slipping up and making mistakes in the fight, allowing Zaheer to whittle her down.

I struggled to stand. "Damn it! Get up!" I told myself. "You can't just give up on her! She means everything; she's become your life!" I yelled as I stood. "She's the woman that you would die for!"

Watching the fight slowly end, Korra encased Zaheer's foot in ice to weight him down as she prepared the final blow, but at the last second, gave out. Zaheer took his chance and began brutalizing her, softening her up to let him dispatch her easily later. I gritted my teeth as I took one step forward.

"You can't let a little pain and broken leg stop you!" I told myself as I took another step forward. "I don't care if I die…I'd give anything to help her, to save her…" I moaned as I stumbled down to my knees.

Korra landed on the large platform that Zaheer and I had fought on earlier. I watched him lift her up using airbending, and then form a sphere around her head. He was going to suffocate her to death.

I stood once again, the thought her leaving me forever filling me will adrenaline, and, once again like a bolt of lightning, I had an idea.

"I won't let her die; even if I have to die in her place," I vowed. "I pledged my life to her, and am now willing lay down my earthly desires towards anything else to save her! Please!" I yelled as I stumble-ran and jumped off the edge and, without even trying, stopped in midair. I was flying.

I didn't have time to relish in the discovery, as I propelled myself up and into a dive toward Zaheer. I began spinning to create a funnel, a drill of air behind me. "Nooooo!" I yelled as I came close, seeing Korra nearly dead. The shock of hearing my voice alone caused Zaheer to stop and turn towards me, but by then it was too late.

I dove into him, the air behind me pushing us into and through two or three pillars, with me throwing him away into the air, both of us at a level height. He stared at me in utter shock. "You can…" he trailed off, seeing for himself.

"You were wrong Zaheer, and so was Guru Laghima; the secret to flight isn't letting go of earthly tethers; it's becoming solely devoted to one and acting on it. You to the Red Lotus, and mine to protecting Korra."

He bared his teeth and growled. "How dare you! You will face righteous judgement!" he said as he dashed into me. I flipped him up and flew after him as he ran. I shot several blasts at him, and he diffused them with his own. He then turned around and swirled his arms, creating a small funnel which I was sucked into. He then shot me out and into another pillar.

"You may be able to fly now, but you still can't beat me!" he yelled as he tackled me through another pillar.

"Damn!" I cursed as I fell down lower, only to catch myself. Zaheer soon caught up and then, suddenly, was blasted by fire. When I looked Mako was propelling himself toward us, along with Bolin and Tonraq who were hanging onto his back. The two landed on the pillar near us and shot their respective elements at Zaheer. I took my chance and charged him shooting several blasts once again at him, pushing him back toward the other benders, when Mako shot a bolt of lightning at him.

I flew past Zaheer and nodded to the others, telling him to go along with whatever I did. What I did was make a large funnel with my airbending, which the others augmented with their respective elements, creating our own version of an Avatar-type attack.

When all of the elements had intertwined, we all thrust our fists forward and shot it at the still recovering Zaheer, catching him dead-center, knocking him clean out of the sky and onto our platform. Bolin quickly took action and encased him up to his chest with stone, not allowing him to move. I raised my fist, making a sort of blade with two of my fingers, much like something Mako would do.

"No! You can't!" Zaheer yelled at me.

"Oh, I can!" I yelled back, my arm shaking and my eyes burning with anger and passion. "And I will!"

Mako held my arm back. "Hey, wait; you're not gonna kill him, are you?"

"He's better left dead!" I countered. "Any people like him don't deserve to live if they're only going to spread chaos and destruction!"

"Please," Tonraq said softly as he put his hand on my shoulder. "Korra wouldn't want this; you know that."

I stopped, remembering her words. "_You could become as much of an extremist as they are…I just…don't think that this is the right path…"_

I lowered my hand, closing my eyes and thinking it over. "…You're right; she wouldn't want you dead," I turned away.

"You coward! Devoting yourself to your ideals and yet not being able to go all the way?!" he yelled before I heard him breathe in deeply. I turned back around and shot a powerful blast of wind at him as he tried to blow me off the cliff. I pushed my hands forward, my thumbs eventually landing on the center of his forehead and chest.

I focused my mind, remembering the lion turtle's words. "Bending the energy within ourselves…" I muttered, trying to find my center, soon finding it, visualizing a small flame and then it burst to life as I lifted my head up, shooting a bright blue light, just like the color that Korra's eyes were. Zaheer then shot up a similar light, his being a deep purple color, one I realized was the color representative of Vaatu and the Dark Avatar.

Then suddenly, everything was surrounded by blackness, and I was facing Zaheer, both of us floating. He looked around frantically.

"What are…Where am I?" he questioned. He then looked at me. "And who are you? Where did that airbender go?"

"I am him, the airbender who defeated you…with a little help. The person you see before you is Avatar Wan, the spirit who resides within me, and his spirit has chosen me, just as the Dark Avatar's spirit had chosen you," He shot his fist at me, but no air came out, and he could not move closer to punch me. "This will be a battle of spirit, not fighting skill or bending or flying," I explained.

"Like you'll defeat my spirit, the one who has devoted over thirteen years of his life to a cause."

"That may be so, but that cause is corrupt."

"Anarchy is the only natural order; humans have interfered in it for the last time. Rulers who can give or take away freedom as they please; it's disgusting."

"I agree. However, what you don't understand is that by devoting yourself to this crusade, you yourself having been given power, and you could just as easily use that power to take away freedom, if you want to call it freedom anyway," I countered.

"I would never do that; that goes against my beliefs; what I've been fighting for. And besides, what do you have to show for yourself? You've known that woman for so little time and yet you are completely devoted to her?"

"Yes, I am, and I'll tell you why; Korra is the light that shines in the darkness that could cloud my vision. You however, have seen only darkness for so long; now that you see the light, you try to fight it. That is why the Dark Avatar chose you, and that is why you won't win," I said, though the words weren't entirely my own. Zaheer began drifting away, the scene slowly being changed to one of white and not black. "And one more thing; my spirit is unbendable, a wise man once said, while yours is…" I trailed off as the scene returned to the real world and the light had become so intense so as to blind someone. I let go of Zaheer when I felt his energy shift. As the light disappeared, I stood over him, looking weak and exhausted. "Easily malleable," I told him.

It was only after I felt another person come to my aid did I realize that I had no energy left. I collapsed to the ground when Mako put his hand on my shoulder, forcing him to catch me. "What did you do to me?" Zaheer demanded weakly.

"I…took your bending away," I explained.

Tonraq broke the rocks with his water and forced Zaheer's wrists and ankles into manacles of ice. "You'll be going back to prison, and this time you won't get so lucky as to get airbending to escape; double security as well," Tonraq said.

Suddenly, a rumbling that I had become familiar with started, and then the whole platform crumbled beneath us. Korra was still fighting the poison.

I managed to carry everyone down to safety before flying back up to Korra, who was keeping herself aloft through fire and air. "Korra, stop! I beat Zaheer; you don't have to fight any-"

"Zaheer!" she yelled, still in her trance, as she shot powerful blasts of fire at me. I barely managed to dodge them with how exhausted I was. Soon, she struck me with a large rock and I plummeted to the ground. Thankfully, Suyin jumped up and caught me, allowing me to land safely. Tonraq and Mako went to work trying to calm Korra down. She made repeated attempts to come toward me, but they were managing to hold her off.

I stood shakily, only to stumble on my bad leg and fall back down. Suyin held me back from going any further. "Please, stop fighting; you did good work. Leave the rest to the others."

"No!" I retorted. "I have to help…somehow…" I mumbled. "And besides, she's going to come after me anyway; I think she's hallucinating and sees me as Zaheer because I can fly like he can."

"You can fly too?" Bolin questioned.

I looked to him in confusion. "Yeah; how do you think I got you guys down to safety?"

"Oh yeah, right…" he offered a cautious smile.

"Bolin, I need you to get Tenzin and the other airbenders out of here; if Korra's like this, it's not safe here," Lin told him. He nodded hesitantly. "Don't worry, she won't get hurt and neither with your brother," she assured him.

"…Alright, let's go everybody!" he said as he herded them onto Oogi, who groaned from the weight as he flew off. I stood once again as I saw Tonraq and Mako get blown away, literally, before Korra propelled herself toward me.

"Zaheer!" she yelled, tackling me up into the air. I managed to push her away and fly away, with her following close behind. She tried to close me in with two rock pillars, but I just barely managed to squeeze through, with her simply breaking through the rocks. As I continued to run, I lost track of her. How? I don't know, but sure as hell was regretting it as she slammed into me, pushing me through several pillars and then throwing me into a pool of water before lashing me with water whips.

I soon got sick of that, and blew away every last drop of water from the pool, to which she unraveled her chain and threw it at me, wrapping it around my waist and then yanking, causing me to fall forward. She then tried to blast me with fire, but I made an air shield in the nick of time. I stood and saw that she was going to whip me with the chain, but I caught it this time, causing my hand to sting immensely.

"Korra! Please, I'm not Zaheer! It's me, Yuuto, remember?" I called only to have her pull me closer and force me to block another fire blast. I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again, diffusing another fire blast and pulling her closer toward me, and then closer, and then closer, until we weren't six inches apart.

She tried to punch me with her hand encased in fire, but I caught her fist, encasing my hand in wind. She tried to do the same with her other fist, but I blocked it all the same. The force was enormous as the air around us became a whirlwind of fire, water, and earth.

"Korra! I'm not going to kill you! Even if you become a monster, I won't do it, no matter how many times you attack me!"

"Zaheer! Die!" she yelled, her voice becoming stronger.

"No…" I muttered as I felt myself becoming quickly overpowered. "No, no, Nooooo!" I yelled, putting all of my energy on the line as our powers collided, and causing a massive blast of elements that knocked me out cold the second it started.

I burst up, feeling as if no time has passed from when I blacked out. I rolled off of what I was lying on stood, only to stumble on something covering my foot, which I found out later was a cast. I stood once again and ran out the door. "Korra!" I called to her, running through the halls of the building I was being held in.

Suddenly, Mako burst from a doorway and held his hands up to stop me. "Whoa! Hey, man, calm down!" he said. I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close.

"Where's Korra?" I demanded. He motioned to the door where he came from and I saw her smiling at me, her eyes back to normal. It felt like I had become a bit more light and I floated over to her, dropping Mako on the way. I touched her face and pulled at her cheeks. "This isn't a dream?"

"Ow…" she whined weakly, slowly bring her hands up to mine as I landed, sitting on the side of her bed. "Not so hard…"

A tear rolled down my face as I smiled. "I thought…I thought you were…" I choked out, hugging her. She gently pushed me away. "W-what?"

"About what you said, while I was fighting the poison. I…love you too," she said before smiled again, pressing my lips to hers in a long, passionate kiss. I wanted the moment to last forever, but eventually, I had to pull away. "I never want to leave your side again. You make me feel…safe…"

"I don't ever want to leave you either; I want to spend my life with you," I returned the favor and started kissing her again.

"Ahem," a voice interrupted us, causing us to separate. I looked and saw Tenzin in the doorway, looking quite a bit better than before, with a satisfied-looking Mako looking at him as well.

"I told you he would want to see her," he told the older man. "You now owe me fifty yuans."

"Yes well, I believe some congratulations are in order," Tenzin said as he limped toward us. "I don't want to make this official yet, and despite your lack of proper training, because of your talent and raw willpower, rivaling that of Guru Laghima himself, I believe it is in order to make you an Airbending Master, along with my daughter, Jinora."

The announcement made my face turn red. I turned to Korra, who smiled weakly at me. "Go ahead; you deserve it."

I sighed and turned back to Tenzin. "Thank you. That means a lot; it really does, but…I don't think I deserve it, and I don't want the title."

Tenzin frowned. "But you-"

"Please, just hear me out…" I said softly, not wanting to violently argue. "I don't want to be bound to anything other than Korra for the rest of my life; I couldn't do the name justice it were given to me because I wouldn't be able to properly teach others," I explained. "Please, just…I'll take the honor that the title holds; you give the title itself to your daughter."

Tenzin gave a warm smile, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Very well, I'll respect your wishes and put you in my highest regard," he assured. "The ceremony in in two weeks; until then you may stay here on our island. Good luck to you both; we'll be monitoring both of your recoveries," he said as he left.

Mako then ducked out of the room. "I'll, you know, leave you two alone," he said as he closed the door. I turned back to face my love.

"It's just you and I…alone again," I commented. I lowered my eyes. "How are you feeling?" I asked as I looked back up.

"I could be worse," she replied, her voice still weak and her movements sluggish.

"It doesn't sound like it," I said back, placing my hand on hers. "Please, tell me the extent of the damage."

"They said…it'll take time to recover. The poison is gone, it was metallic and they bent it out of me, but its effects they said will last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months."

"Oh…I'm so sorry I wasn't able to-"

"Don't be; it's over now, and I'll get better," she assured me before we shared another kiss. I pulled back. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You," I answered. "You seem…off…"

"I don't know what you…alright, I feel…so helpless," she admitted, looking away. "I'm wheel-chair ridden and I can barely make a small fire; how am I supposed to continue being the Avatar like this?"

"Oh…well, it'll get better, like you said," I promised. "And…maybe this will make you feel better too. I heard that you lost your connection to your past lives; at Harmonic Convergence, right?" I asked to which she nodded weakly. "Well, those connections didn't disappear; each of your past lives is residing in one of the new airbenders, and I'm no exception. That's why I have Avatar Wan's eyes. So just remember, no matter how lost you may seem, all of your past lives are watching over you and I'm sure they'll be able to handle things while you're recovering," I said, caressing her face and pulling her into a hug. I could feel her tears stain my shirt, tears of joy that is.

Two weeks later, right on the dot, Tenzin was pushing Korra, I was stuck using crutches, to the ceremony and met up with Asami, Mako, and Bolin on the way. "Hey Yuuto, Korra; you two are looking better already!" Bolin assured to which I chuckled. "And of course you two Tenzin."

"Thanks, I can feel the difference already," I smiled. Tenzin soon agreed. "You guys ready for the coronation?"

Once there, we found that all of the new airbenders had come from their make-shift home. As we approached, Jinora in particular came up to me, hugging me. "Thank you so much for saving us," she said, her hood covering her face. I returned the hug before she broke off and looked up, showing her sparkling eyes. "Can you show me how to fly sometime?"

"Well, I mean…" I looked to the others, who merely shrugged. "I mean…sure, but it could take a lifetime," I commented, floating up into a sitting position, my crutches lying on my lap.

"That's what dad said about becoming an Airbending Master," she commented as I landed back down, so as not to draw attention away from her big day.

Suddenly, Meelo and Ikki started surrounding Korra. "Hi there, Korra. You look great!" Ikki said, taking the knobs from her father's hands. "Do you mind if I push you for a while?"

"Yeah, I wanna ride with Korra!" Meelo said excitedly, hopping onto her lap.

"Of course," she replied weakly, looking to me for comfort. I offered a casual smile as she was pushed on ahead. At the base of the steps, many of the world's leaders stood waiting for the Avatar. I bowed my head to each of them out of respect and the fact that I didn't know them personally. Lord Zuko was the first to bow, and Korra bowed back. "Hello, thank you all for waiting out here for me."

Tonraq and his wife walked and hugged their daughter. "You look wonderful sweetie," Tonraq said honestly.

"That's right, and you're looking stronger every day," her mother said in agreement with her husband. Then the President of Republic City walked up, and immediately I didn't like this guy.

"Avatar Korra, I deeply apologize for expelling you from our city at our last meeting, but I want you to know that I will try to make our dealings, professional or not, more pleasant in the future, and I do sincerely wish you well in your recovery."

"Thank you," she said weakly as she was pushed past the leaders. I followed her and Lin to a platform at the base of the stairs, where she used her earthbending to push us up.

Once there, we heard Tenzin's speech. As it was going on, about recreating the Air Nomads, I began to feel guiltier and guiltier about not taking the position of Master. All of these people could've used my help, but when I looked down to Korra, who was giving a soft and gratified smile at Tenzin's speech, I knew I had made the right decision.

"-and we will devote ourselves to maintaining harmony and balance in the Avatar's place as recovers. Now, let us praise the newly anointed Airbending Master; the first in a generation, my daughter, Jinora," he said as he bent down and removed her hood, showing us that her head had been shaved and she had been given Airbending Master tattoos.

As I clapped and heard the bells jingle, I looked down, to see a single tear fall from Korra's eye.

***NOTICE!* PLEASE READ**

**I strongly recommend that you head on over to my Youtube channel called Hikaridewd54 and check out this Chapter's Author's Note; I put a lot of effort into it and would really appreciate it if you would check it out; if you want to know how or why I started doing this story.**

**Anyway, for now, I'm signing off; that's for reading and I'll see you in April!**


	10. 10 Time Away

A week later…

After the Airbenders' Ceremony, things began to return to normal, or at least as normal as it could get with two crippled lovers on an island, patiently awaiting the ability to walk normally again. I have actually been able to walk, but being forced to limp still.

Eventually, this man that introduced himself as Varrick approached us on the island, claiming to be a "friend to the family."

Immediately I leaned over to Korra, who had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. "I don't trust him, do you?" I asked, much to his annoyance.

He yanked me up a little forcefully and wiped his hand over an invisible horizon. "Oh, come on kid; the press is dying for a name for you. You've gotta work with me here!" he begged. "Hey, I'll even throw in a little extra. Zhu Li, do the, uh…thing."

His assistant kneeled before and opened a box revealing a gorgeous, fat, tempting wad of yuans. "Sweet," I said absent-mindedly as I snatched it into my hand and eyed Varrick. "Fine then, how about 'The Zephyr'?" I said, having waited for payment for a name for a while now.

See, word had gotten around of my large involvement in stopping Zaheer, and the press wanted something to call me by; Lin had the title Chief, Korra had the Avatar, Bolin and Mako had the Pro-bending brothers, and I had nothing.

And even without me there, we still got news and questions from the press about Korra and when she would return to action, despite her still not even able to take a step. I could tell it grated on both her patience and her confidence.

"Zephyr, hm?" his tone was highly accusatory, or so I thought before he cried "I love it! Zhu Li, write that down."

"Of course, sir," his assistant said before quickly pulling out a pen and paper.

Varrick patted my shoulder roughly. "I like you, kid; you could make a _great_ business partner, what do you say?"

"Well, I, erm…" I looked to Korra, who was staring at me half blankly and half worriedly. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to refuse," I said, pushing him off. "And we should really get going," I said as I started to push Korra away from that man. Once we were a good distance away, I wondered "Man, what's with that guy? He's so weird…"

"He means well, for the most part," Korra answered, her voice still a bit drowsy. A silence fell over us.

"Hey, I know! We haven't seen Bolin or Mako in a while; let's go visit!"

She nodded, giving a smile. "Alright."

We boarded the boat and first stopped off at their apartment, which Lin had so graciously paid for, and by paid for I mean she threatened to arrest the manager if he tried to kick them out. It seemed she really did have a soft side, though I think it was because she was becoming reliant on Mako's detective skills. He was the only cop worth his salt in this city from what I could tell.

Anyway, we found Bolin there, sleeping. I put Korra in the living room as I entered Bolin's room. I began flying toward him and made a "scary" face before calling his name and lightly shooting air at him.

His eyes opened lazily and then he saw my face and started screaming in complete terror as I began laughing. "Hey, Yuuto! You can't do that to me…" he said as he caught his breath.

"Sorry, but I brought a friend," I said as I floated back into the living room.

"What happened?" Korra wondered.

"I scared Bolin out of his PJ's," I smirked as I landed, sitting on their couch as Bolin came out scratching his stomach.

"Yeah right; you didn't scare me," he retorted, when he noticed Korra and burst to life, running up and hugging her happily. "Korra! It's so good to see you!" Bolin soon let go, and nodded to me. "Can I get you two anything?"

"We're fine, thank you," Korra said, returning the gesture. "Where's Mako?"

"Huh, he went back to work a few days ago, remember? He told you I think," Bolin replied, his expression slowly becoming worried.

"Oh yeah…right…" Korra replied, her eyes drooping.

"Hey, are you okay? You look…" he trailed off. Korra glared at him slightly, though her eyes were still glazed over in exhaustion.

"I look what? Weak? Helpless?" she demanded. I knelt down and put my hand on her shoulder.

"No, I mean…" Bolin kneeled as well. "I'm just worried."

"I _know_ you're worried, Bolin, but I wish everyone would just _stop_ worrying."

I put my hand to her face. "Hey, no one blames you," I assured her. "Just focus on-"

"Tenzin already told me," she yanked her face away. "Focus on recovering; I get it," Another silence fell over the apartment before she turned back. "I'm sorry; I'm just so…frustrated that I can't do anything right now."

"I'm sorry, I just…" Bolin struggled to find the words.

"No, it's my fault. I just think I…could use some time away from everything," she said, which surprised us. "I want to go back home, to the Southern Water Tribe."

"Really? Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Well, I mean, if you want to…" Bolin scratched his cheek with his finger, looking away.

"Do you want me along, or…?" I started, but trailed off. She gave a light smile.

"Of course I want you along. I said you make me feel safe."

I shrugged. "Safe and happy aren't mutually exclusive, you know? Anyway, if this is your decision, then I'll gladly take you anywhere you want to go," I offered, placing my hand across my chest in a mock salute of sorts.

"Yeah, and Mako and I will write you!" Bolin offered. "We'll become pen pals! You, me, Mako, and Asami!"

"Right, thank you."

"Do you want to wait for Mako and Asami so you can tell them, or…"

Korra shook her head. "We can leave tomorrow; they'll be there to see us off," she assured. "Bolin, could you tell Mako?"

"Of course. Well, you two sure have some packing to do now, don't you?"

I shrugged. "Alright, scaredy-cat, we'll leave you to go pack then," I said. Korra waved and gave a smile.

"Thanks for understanding, Bo," she said as I pushed her out and back to the island.

The next day, after all of the arrangements were set, we had everyone see us off, with Tenzin escorting us there. After he said his goodbyes to his family for a couple weeks, we set off.

The first day was full of shiftywaters and rocky waves as we got into open water. By the time everything smoothed over, it was dark already.

I pushed Korra to her room on Varrick's yacht, but she stopped me. "Wait…I want to sleep outside tonight."

"Hmm? Alright, I guess," I said as I took her back outside, assuming she meant sleeping against Naga. "On the floor?" I asked, to which she nodded.

I began floating and picked her up. Strangely it wasn't any harder to fly with extra weight, as if my weightlessness carried over into the other person or whatever I was carrying. Slowly, I set us both down, leaning against Naga, Korra's head resting gently against my chest.

She placed her arm across my chest, much as it had been before. "Good night," I said as I wrapped my arm across her shoulders, making for a make-shift pillow if need be, my head resting on Naga's chest. I felt her nod slowly, already drifting into sleep.

An hour later, I was lost in thought. I already knew my decision was final when I devoted my life to Korra, but I quickly realized that she may not be that way. I guess I would still pledge myself to her, if nothing else than as a friend, but I hoped that we would be together forever. Even when in this irritable and, dare I say, helpless state, she still retained the same place in my heart, and if she left, it would cause the same void to appear as it did when she was taken by the Red Lotus.

Oh boy, and the Red Lotus; something tells me that I'll have to help deal with them again. Chief Beifong and Tenzin informed me, while I was away from Korra or during those few moments when she slept, that there was no telling how many more members there were, equally as dangerous but maybe not quite as bold as the ones we already defeated and put into prison; Zaheer and his crew. Korra later told me that that whole Harmonic Convergence fiasco was caused by another of its members, Unalaq, the Avatar who inhabits Zaheer's spirit, and also Aiwei, who Korra told me Zaheer disposed of himself. For what reason escapes me, but there's no use worrying about it now.

I told the other world leaders that, in order to keep Korra safe, I would be entirely willing to help bring them down whenever they needed my help, and I planned to stick to that. Korra agreed.

I then heard soft footsteps approaching, though I soon found that it was simply Tenzin, coming out for some fresh air. She approached us, looking rather tired. "You should get some rest; you have to take both rides," I commented. He gave a weary smile.

"Bad dreams," he explained.

"Trust me, I know the feeling," I assured him, recalling just a few days after the climax of Zaheer's time. I woke up the night before so afraid from my nightmare of Zaheer actually succeeding in killing Korra, and I stayed awake in her room to watch out for her for two days straight, despite her barely being able to sleep herself. "And so does Korra; this is the quietest she's been during a night since that day."

Tenzin nodded. "I've heard."

"So, how have things been around the world? Any leads on more Red Lotus members? What about the Earth Kingdom?" I questioned eagerly to hear news.

"Nothing in terms of those terrorists," he assured. "However, the Earth Kingdom is in total disarray. We've practically begged Suyin Beifong to take charge, but she continually refuses," he said before rubbing his face and beard, trying to stay awake.

I chuckled. "I think it'll take us all months to fully get over what happened," I offered, giving a light grin from amusement, and half to hide my own sadness at the statement.

"Yes well, I don't have much time these days to fear about the past, and I'll have even less with the Avatar gone from the world for a few weeks."

"I'm sorry."

"Listen, you're her friend. I need you to stay close and keep her safe until she can at least stand on her own two feet," he requested, to which I nodded, turning to face the woman, who was still sleeping soundly.

"I think we're a bit more than friends at this point," I noted, giving a light kiss on her head, and letting my eyes linger on her. Tenzin noticed this and stood.

"Well, I'll let you sleep, and I'll get back to bed myself."

"Thanks; goodnight," I said before he turned and took his leave, which left me to await the day I would get to see the Southern Water Tribe.

**Author's Note:**

**Oh gods! Finally, we're back! Yes! Yay! Wahoo!**

**Anyway...uh, yeah, it's back and I'm already almost done the second arc in terms of initial writing, so...yeah, I don't think another hiatus will be coming soon.**

**But that's besides the point: I hope you all enjoyed and I truly to hope you're looking forward to the next chapter!**


	11. 11 Recovery

"The Southern Water Tribe at last!" I raised my hands up in victory, tired of waiting on this godforsaken boat. "Finally!" I yelled out into the distant land mass of soft snow and glaciers.

I was wearing a water tribe uniform much like Tonraq's, as Korra had recommended I dress a bit warmer as we approached the South Pole. I found it rather comfortable, and it also helps that it matches the others that would be around me.

And you want to know something even better? Korra was feeling well enough to push herself! Now, mind you, I'm not saying that because I was sick of taking her everywhere, but even I realize that it was both annoying and degrading for her to have to be escorted everywhere, and this finally let her have this small bit of freedom to go where she wanted.

As we got closer to the docks, I saw Tonraq and…who was she again…? Oh yeah, Korra's mom who I didn't know the name of; Senna. I liked the name, and I can't believe I never asked Tonraq. Oh well, I know now.

When we finally were able to unload ourselves from the boat, the two hugged their daughter fondly, while shaking my hand, Senna gave an understanding smile and Tonraq gave a firm smack on the shoulder. "You look sharp in those clothes; you sure you're from the Earth Kingdom?" he joked. "And Korra, you look ten times better than last time."

"Thank you; I feel better too," she bowed her head slightly.

Over the boat trip back, she had gotten a couple more good nights' sleep, and a whole lot more bad ones, though it was definitely more evened out than it had been. I just hoped that now that she'll settle down here for a while, that she won't go back to having only nightmares and the like.

And so Senna took Korra to the home and Tonraq opted to give me the tour of the tribe; his treat. He showed me all kinds of things all around the town; all the best taverns and restaurants. He showed me the shipwreck from the Hundred Year War, boasting of the power of Southern waterbenders, and finally we started walking toward his home, when I noticed something. "What's that building?" I wondered, pointing to a large rectangular wall that looked to be built like a prison.

"Oh that? That, my boy, is a compound where we kept Korra during her early training."

"Sounds like a prison," I commented before realizing that that could've been insulting, taking it back. "Well, I mean, I'm sure you did it for a good reason, but like-"

"It's fine, Yuuto. And besides, Korra certainly felt that way too and you know her; she hates being cooped up in one place for too long, especially when Master Tenzin couldn't move down here to train her in airbending."

"Is _that_ how she came to Republic City?" I questioned, dumbfounded that she was essentially a fugitive when she went to the "glorious" city.

"Yes well, that time has passed. Let's get going; it's almost dark which means dinner!" he said happily as he urged me forward.

The dinner table was…nice…I guess. I mean the food was great, the best I've ever had, but it's just…alright fine; it was awkward as all hell! Most of the time, we only heard the clattering of silverware against the plates. I looked at Senna and Tonraq, who looked to be thinking, or at least trying to think, as if they were keeping something in; perhaps something which they didn't want me to hear.

I then looked to Korra, who was simply staring down at her plate, slowly shifting the food around with her fork, maybe taking a nibble every now and then. As I looked back and forth between the three, I kind of decided something. I stood, picking up my plate. "Alright," I started. "I'm gonna head outside."

"Hmm? Why's that?" Senna asked. "You don't like it in here?" she questioned, slightly hurt.

"Anything but," I assured. "But shouldn't dinner be a time when families discuss things and ask about the days and what's been new? You three should do that, because I kind of feel like the fourth wheel here," I said as I turned back to the door. "Call me in when you need me to help clean up," I said as I opened the door and stepped though. "And please don't take this the wrong way; I sincerely love the food," I said before closing the door.

I didn't move for a moment after closing the door, waiting. I soon heard faint whispers between them, before I heard Korra of all people being the loudest. "He means the best, even if he's a bit blunt," she said, which seemed to get the parents to start talking as well, and soon conversation flowed as smoothly as it could, which made me smile before I took my leave to the outside, where the moon was well into the sky.

It did make me feel left out, but it really wasn't my place to be there, even if they did offer. Let's face it; I was the only outsider in that situation and it really did seem like, even if they won't admit it, like I was holding them back.

Jeez, I talk about it like it was such a big deal. "I'm holding them back," I say. Back from what? Whatever, I'm making a jerk out of myself.

I ate the rest of my food in silence, continuing to ponder about miscellaneous things; things that don't really matter like what could've been, when I heard footsteps.

"Everyone is finished, if you want to come back inside," Senna's voice called to me. I was sitting on the railing overlooking the rest of the port city when she came. I turned around and hopped off.

"Cool," I said, walking up to her.

"And thank you. I'm sorry if you feel left out here. We just need time to adjust to having a new family member at the table."

"It's alright, but I'm not really a family-"

"Nonsense; you came here to watch after our daughter. Anyone who is willing to do that is family to us," she said as she ushered me inside. "And of course, while you're here, as family, we'll need to ask you to…" she turned me at a doorway, where Tonraq was giving me a sly smile while pointing at a huge pile of dishes. "Wash these for us."

"Um…" I didn't know what to say, only wondering where…

"We gave the maids the night off," Tonraq read my thoughts. "With an extra set of hands, I don't think we'll need them tonight."

I sighed, accepting my cruel, cruel fate, and getting to work.

Once I was done, over an hour later; how they could use that many dishes in one night escapes me, but I immediately crashed, awaiting sleep to come and relieve me of my suffering.

* * *

It's been about three weeks, and exactly what I feared would happen was happening. Korra was drifting into having nightmares every night. I tried to stay alert most of the time, but sometimes I sleep through the events and end up feeling guilty about it the next day, but other than that things have been slowly falling into a routine. I passed time doing odd jobs around town when I wasn't helping Korra, and I got a few yuans out of it to boot; so it was a win-win situation.

Then one night, I wasn't very alert and even still I shot up upon hearing the scream of Korra in her sleep. I sat up from my sleep and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before standing and checking around the house, starting from Korra's room and making my way outside. I soon found her on the balcony overlooking the city, with her mother on her shoulders, no doubt talking some soothing words into her.

I saw Korra nod before Senna kissed her and hugged her and then went back to bed, giving me a sympathetic look as she walked past. I slowly padded up to her and floated up, mimicking a sitting position; it felt like it too. "Good evening," I greeted, trying to make this at least have a semblance of casual flow to it. "It's a beautiful moon."

"I'm not in the mood, Yuuto," she warned, though it was clear in her voice that she was just barely awake. "You need to learn how to fight," she ordered.

"Um…Korra, in case you've forgotten-"

"Shut it; I meant without bending."

"Why would I need that?" I questioned.

"In case it gets taken away," she said.

"Is that…what the nightmare was about tonight?" She turned away, but I lowered my face to hers. "Is it?" She slowly nodded and raised her hand to my face. I took the hand into my own and gripped it slightly. "Alright, I'll do whatever makes you feel better, to get you sleeping again," I said as I kissed her a little.

She nodded once again. "Thank you. I'm…going to see Katara tomorrow," she said.

"Why's that? I thought you just wanted to recover naturally."

Korra shook her head. "It's just…not coming; you're fully recovered already, and I haven't improved at all. I thought would be able to walk and fight by now, and go back to Republic City, but…"

"Korra…you need to rest up," I said, ending her angsting as she nodded. "If you really want to recover and go see Katara, you need to sleep," I insisted as we entered her room and I put her into her bed. "If you need anything, just-"

"Actually, can you stay here?" she asked, to which I gave a warm smile and climbed in next to her, letting her lean on me as we both slowly drifted back into sleep.

* * *

Two years later…

A new routine had taken form shortly after that, and I had been learning how to fight Southern Water Tribe-style from Tonraq and a couple others, learning to go with the flow during combat; using my opponent's momentum against them, you know; basic watery stuff.

Korra however, has been in for a rough ride. For the first six months, she could barely keep herself from falling down, and since then she has been able to regain her walking and running capabilities, but she's now struggling with getting her bending back up to snuff.

Actually, I was having a very light practice match with her to help her regain airbending. She ducked under my blast and shot her own in retaliation, proceeding to jump and kick again. When I diffused those shots, she reared up to send a focused shot of air, but as she was doing so, her eyes began to bulge and then she fell down with a groan. I jogged up to her and knelt beside her as she picked herself back to a sitting position, breathing heavily despite the fact that we had only been sparring for a few moments.

"Are you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder, only to have it shaken off.

"Of course I'm okay," she panted as she stood. "Let's go again."

As we continued with the match, someone came by the makeshift arena we were using. "Avatar Korra!" he called, distracting her and causing her to stop mid-attack. The man came over and handed her an envelope.

As she opened it and read it, she put her hand to her head in confusion. "What is it?" I wondered, only to receive no response. "Well?"

"Hmm?" she jumped slightly, as if I had taken her out of her thoughts. She handed the letter to me.

I read it aloud.

"Avatar Korra,

If my information is correct, you are still residing in the Southern Water Tribe despite your insistence that you would be back to Republic City in a month's time. For what reason you stay is your own, but I must ask for your assistance in dealing a familiar problem. Please come to my palace to hear the details, but know that many lives could potentially be at stake. -Fire Lord Izumi and Lord Zuko"

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, so I think it's clear from the ending that the next arc doesn't take place during the canon storyline of the Legend of Korra, so if you're not into that thing, come back in about two weeks or so. I'll have a notice in chapter 1 when it gets back to canon stuff.**

**Alright, I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter; don't forget to read and review (R&amp;R)!**


	12. 12 Detour

"A letter directly from the Fire Lord?" I questioned. "You sure this isn't a hoax?"

"No, this is most definitely Lord Zuko's signature," Tonraq answered. We had moved back to his home after we examined the letter a bit more. "We should write him back right away."

I looked to Korra, who had been sitting quietly against Naga while Tonraq and I discussed things. "What are you going to do?" I inquired.

She shrugged. "Well, I mean…I can't just say no, can I?" she said as she stood.

"But Korra; you haven't fully recovered yet," Tonraq stated. "You still are struggling in practice matches; what happens when you collapse in a life-or-death situation?"

"Well then, dad, what do you propose that we do? The Fire Lord asked specifically for me to help her. And Lord Zuko was Avatar Aang's closest friend; I don't want to disappoint him."

A silence enveloped the room as we tried thinking of what to do; unsure as to how this would turn out, or even if it could turn out the way we wanted it too; just a simple trip there and back after dealing with a couple pushovers. Then an idea hit me.

"You could always send me instead," I offered. "Your father is right; you're still recovering from that day, and the Fire Lord needs help," I slammed my hand into my fist. "Plus, I've still got a bone to pick with the Red Lotus for what they did to you."

"But…" Korra tried to form words, but they just wouldn't come out at first. "But…didn't you say that you were going to stay here to protect me?" she said quietly; she had a lot of trouble admitting what I was doing there, much to my understanding. If she were hanging around me for two years straight under the "bodyguard" guise, I would be pretty annoyed to admit that I needed it too.

"You're in more danger if the Red Lotus is still active," I stated. "The best way to keep you safe is to take the fight to the enemy and away from you."

Tonraq nodded. "Can you make it?"

I jumped into the air and did a couple flips. "Do you really need to ask that?" I said confidently.

"Actually, if you're set on doing this, I think you should take Naga," Korra said.

"Why? She's your polar bear-dog."

"Yeah, but she doesn't really have much to do; besides it'll make me feel like I've done something to protect you too," she grabbed my hand and held it. "Please, for me?"

"Well…alright, why not? I'll enjoy the company."

Tonraq nodded. "I'll send word to Tenzin. He could give you a ride on his bison," he offered, but I shook my head.

"No thanks; I don't think Oogi would appreciate the extra weight. I'll just take a sailboat big enough to carry us. I can make stops off at some of the inhabited islands for food; I'll just need a couple yuans to keep me going."

"And you'll need the letter to get into the Fire Lord's Palace," Tonraq said as he handed it to me.

Once I was all packed, I urged Naga onto the boat, with Korra having to comfort her a bit and show her that I was in charge of her for now. Naga gave complaint but still complied. And so with that, we both set off with enough food to last us until we made it to an island…hopefully. Eh, Tonraq taught me rudimentary forms of fishing, so I should be fine.

That was my mindset for the first few days…until Naga started whining. I kept insisting that we would be able to eat more once we found an island, but Naga persisted and ended up eating my entire food supply within a week.

It was a half a day or so after I ran out, when I spotted an island in the distance. I used my airbending to push us over there, and soon we landed. Both Naga and I bounded off of the boat happily. I took off my boots, my feet getting extremely hot, and emptied them of water, feeling the sand in-between my toes. I may not be an earth bender, but it sure felt great to feel solid ground beneath my feet. My feet could stand almost anything thanks to living in Ba Sing Se.

I grabbed Naga's reins, heading into the tiny forest on the relatively large island in order to look for civilization. What I found was actually a festival of some kind, every inhabitant of the island praising this one statue, nigh worshipping it actually. Naga and I watched from the tree line, where we wouldn't be seen, as several of the girls stepped out of the ground with some dance streamers decorated for the event. They were wearing what looked like battle armor; mostly green with some black platting around their legs, stomach, and arms. They were all also wearing heavy makeup to where their face was completely white, with crazy colored highlights around their eyes.

There were five of them in total, with other girls soon backing them up, totaling around fifteen, however, one stood out to me. She was a bit shorter than the others, first off, and she was also the only one singing, and she had an absolutely beautiful voice with just the right amount of vibrato to keep it interesting, but without making it seem unnatural or obnoxious.

And third, well…she was going to offer meat as a sort of sacrifice, and Naga saw it. Can I just say shenanigans occurred? No? What do you mean I already used that one? Whatever, fine.

As soon as she caught wind of the meat, and when I saw it, Naga tore off into the festival, toppling people over and heading for the meat. I tore into a run, yelling for her to stop, before flying toward the girl before Naga could get to her and snatching her up into the sky.

"Hey! Get off of me, pervert!" she cried, trying to push me away as I landed, before she could even comprehend what was going on. I set her down and stood between her and Naga. "W-what is that thing?" she asked, taking a defensive stance.

I straightened my back and did my best to look intimidating. "Naga, down!" I yelled, causing her to rear her head back in confusion. I walked up to her and chuckled. "I said you'll get food soon enough, girl. You can't go around and cause trouble like that," I scratched her chest and stomach, causing her to roll over onto her back in delight. "Good girl…" I trailed off as I sighed, looking behind me slightly to see a crowd gathered. I then turned fully to face them, only to have that girl holding the meat to storm up to me.

"Hey, you, you…freak! What, _exactly_, compelled you to come and ruin our festival?"

"Well, I mean, uh…" I struggled to find a good excuse. "Well, actually, I guess…" I stole a glance at the girl to see her sending me the eyes of death. "Naga was hungry, alright?" I admitted, holding my hands up in surrender. "Look, I can pay for the damages, just please-"

"We don't want your money!" someone from the crowd threw rock at us, followed by a few more people.

"Hey! Ow! Can't you people just continue your-"

"Ahh!" the girl screamed, yanking her arm away; Naga had eaten the meat she held in her hand, to which I swatted her chest.

"Naga!" I scolded. I sighed once again. "Alright, maybe this will impress you enough to stop throwing rocks…" I said as I floated off the ground, rising higher and higher until I started actually moving, twirling around them, impressing a couple of people before landing where I took off. I waited for a response, only to have rocks thrown again. "Alright, I'm tired of this," I said before making a swirling motion with my arms and pushing everyone back a few feet with my airbending. That seemed to impress people a bit more.

"Hold up," a rather elderly sounding voice came from the crowd, and soon a very, very old woman emerged from the crowd, smiling warmly at me, much like Katara would when I saw her. "Why, hello there, young airbender."

"Airbender?" someone from the crowd whispered.

"That hooligan?"

"No way, is that what that was?"

The woman silenced them all. "Welcome to Kyoshi Island, home of the Kyoshi Warriors you see before you."

I nodded. "I'm really sorry for the intrusion," I said sincerely. "If my friend here had a bit more self-control, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Don't worry I understand, although; we'll still have to punish you," she said with another smile as the other Warriors drew what looked like fans with metal blades attached to the ends of them. "No, not all of you, you twits!"

Most of them backed down, and soon they all did as the woman ordered them to a file and then walked up and down them, before picking out the girl who was singing.

"You will be fighting her," she told me as the others made a large circle around us, and pushing Naga out of the circle. "If you win you're free to go, but if you lose, and you will, then you will remain our prisoner until we no longer find you amusing. No bending, understand?"

"Well, I mean…you're not really giving me a choice," I said as I threw off my water tribe robes. I would've found them a hindrance to my movement.

The girl took a peculiar stance, one that left her face wide open, and her chest to the side; she didn't wield the metal fans that the others did. I must've looked perplexed by it, as she began glaring. "Judging me already?" she questioned, her tone accusatory.

We started circling each other. "Not at all, I'm just confused as to why your people are so hostile over a simple mistake."

We drew closer to each other before taking several jabs to test each other. Then, as I threw a slightly longer punch, the girl took her chance and ducked under my arm, hitting it lightly in several areas, causing me massive pain even though it really shouldn't have. Afterward, when I leapt away, I couldn't move that arm, and it just fell to my side.

I've read about these people; the Equalists used them, Chi Blockers, during their crusade against benders, but now that I knew how she fought, she would be predictable.

The girl saw her advantage and dashed forward a bit preemptively. As she thrust her hands forward at me, but I side stepped and pushed her away with a strong kick to the back. Realizing she had been hasty, the girl stood a few feet away.

I saw her eyes dash from me to the others, and, when she was in view, the elderly woman who set us up. I took her indecisiveness and used it against her, feinting one way and attacking on the other side with another kick before getting up right in her face and hitting her arm myself. She vaulted over me and attempted to knock me off my feet, but I jumped over the attack and went in for another assault, knocking her off balance and causing her to trip backwards.

As I did, I saw the smallest sparks on her fingers which then expanded before I jumped back and rolled out of the way of a shot of lightning. I landed on my butt, staring at her, dumbfounded. "You're a…firebender?" I questioned, bewildered. The girl turned head her head in shame, silently cursing herself. I frowned as I stood. "Alright, if that's how you want to do this!"

I shot a couple blasts of air at her, knocking her back into her friends who helped her up. "What are you doing?! I broke the rules; you win, alright?" she called over to me. I muscles eased as I stood straighter.

"Just had to make sure," I said, smiling. The others, it seemed, were not as happy as I, as they were frowning and glaring and sending me slightly less scary looks of death than the girl did. The elderly woman seemed unfazed however, still smiling. "Um, can I ask what the deal is? Who are you? And why didn't you just give me a normal punishment? I would've gladly accepted."

"I know it's not your style," she commented. "Yuuto."

"You know me?"

"I happen to be friends with Lord Zuko; he came by not too long ago and spoke of you. When he said what you could do, and you began demonstrating it here for us, I knew it was you."

"Alright…that still doesn't answer my question."

"Fine, my name is Suki. These girls here are the Kyoshi Warriors, who guard and worship Avatar Kyoshi, our founder. Kanon!" she called to the girl who was trying to sneak away. "Get over here!"

Reluctantly, the girl, Kanon, obeyed. "Yes, Elder?"

Suki put her hands on Kanon's shoulders. "Yuuto, this is Kanon; she'll show you around the island for today. We can give you a meal and send you off tomorrow."

"Thank you," I bowed slightly before holding my hand out to Kanon. "It's nice to meet you," she shook my hand, looking away. "And, uh…can you fix my arm?" I pointed at the still limp limb. The girl sighed and started walking away, past my arm, hitting it several times on the way past, causing it to jerk back to life with more pain. "Ah! Couldn't you do that a bit softer?" I whined as I followed her.

Kanon began introducing me to all of the amazing sights the island had to offer; namely the interiors of the homes which I liked, some of the mountain range entrances which were quite extravagantly designed, and…

"This here is the shine that was built for Avatar Kyoshi, founder of Kyoshi Island and the Kyoshi Warriors. We hold a ceremony of Kyoshi Day every year to thank her for separating us from the mainland during her time…but of course, you already knew that," she reminded me.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, what more do you want?" I asked. "Anyway, enough about the island; tell me about yourself. I'd love to get to know you and make a friend."

"I'd rather not," she answered, but I persisted.

"Come on; what have you got to lose?"

She hesitated, but soon sighed and brought me to the shore, where we sat on the sand. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, you can tell me where you're from,"

"I'm from the Fire Nation."

"Really? Well, I guess that makes sense since you can firebend."

"Actually…I can't," she admitted. "I could just never do it; I don't have that kind of passion that firebenders need to have, or at least the world doesn't think I do. I can lightningbend because I can focus."

"Right…"

"Anyway, I moved here to Kyoshi Island because I just wanted to be treated like everyone else; my parents thought that it was unnatural for me not to be able to firebend, and they sheltered me, and pampered me, and it just really boring, you know? Plus, my dad was the son of a Kyoshi Warrior named Ty Lee, so it seemed natural for me to follow in her footsteps."

"I'm surprised that they let you go," I commented, to which she scratched her chin embarrassedly, giving a cautious smile.

"Actually, they didn't; I kinda…ran away…" she admitted. "But it totally wasn't my fault. I promise nobody got hurt."

"Um…well, I mean, I guess…" I was lost for words. "Okay, enough about that then; you could've joined the military, or the Republic City Police Force."

"Requires bending other than lightning," she reminded me. "Besides, I like it here," she flopped down onto the sand. "It's fun and lively and there's a great community that just treats me as me. Not to mention that it's warm and quiet and so peaceful," she shot me a quick glare. "Until you came and ruined it."

"Well, maybe it's a sign," I offered. "You said the world doesn't think you have enough drive, so maybe this is it. You could come help me; I'm on my way to…" I pulled out a letter from my satchel which Tonraq had insisted I carry it in. "The Fire Nation right now; it certainly would help to have a guide."

"Well, I mean…like, a date?" she questioned, to which my cheeks turned red.

"Um, actually, I'm kind of taken, but just as friends, alright? No funny business."

"I mean…I guess I could tag along."

"Really? It was that easy? You hated me ten minutes ago," I reminded her.

She shrugged. "Maybe it was me who judged too quickly. And besides, I don't think you would want to travel with a stick in the mud."

And so that night, I had one of the greatest meals of my life, and woke up the next morning rejuvenated and ready to set off. While I waited for Kanon at the entrance, I kept patting Naga, saying that we had enough food this time.

I soon heard footsteps behind me, hitting the sand, and when I turned, my jaw nearly dropped. "I've heard that these clothes used to belong to my grandmother, so I thought it would be fitting," she said.

"You look…so much better without the make-up," was all I could say, to which she frowned and put her hands on her hips which were now unhindered by armor; instead she was wearing what looked like a gymnast's clothing; light and not exactly…covering everything, namely the stomach and ab area; very summer-y clothing, you know? I shook my head; she wasn't tagging along for me to gawk at her, and, like I said before, I'm already committed to Korra. "I mean…that was awkward…"

She waved it off and flicked my nose before walking onto the boat. "Alright, mister airbender, bend us to the Fire Nation!"

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys; not much to say on this one, just a little character intro, but I still hope you found it entertaining. Please R&amp;R and be looking forward to the next chapter! **


	13. 13 Arrival

The sand beneath my feet felt so nice, as both of us flopped to the ground, exhausted from a week's worth of travel and once again reaching dry land. "The Fire Nation at last!" I called out to the sky. Naga walked over to my head and licked it and began whining, indicating that she was hungry. "Alright…food first, then business," I said as I scratched her chin and sat up.

"Where exactly do you want to go? I mean, what kind of business does an airbender have here?" Kanon questioned, still lying down.

"I have to go to the Fire Lord and help her take down the Red Lotus."

"The Fire Lord…?" she trailed off. "Right…got it…" her voice drooped. I turned to her.

"What's wron-" I started, though was interrupted.

"Wait! What's the Red Lotus?"

"You know, the Red Lotus; the terrorists who tried to murder the Avatar and sent the Earth Kingdom into total Chaos?" I only received a blank face for the lackluster explanation. "You can't tell me that you've never heard of them."

We both stood and hopped onto Naga who started trotting onto and down the nearest road. "If I knew then I wouldn't be asking," she stated.

"Alright, where to start then? The Red Lotus, from what I've read, is kind of a radical version of the Order of the White Lotus; the people who generally keep the peace and freedom and also train the Avatar. A couple years back, a few of them broke out of prison after thirteen years and tried to kidnap Korra. We stopped them, but they did eventually get their hands on her. They poisoned and tortured her, trying to force her into the Avatar State so they could end the Avatar Cycle. I eventually took down their leader, and the others also made it out okay, but Korra…she's had major repercussions," I expounded.

"Like what?"

"Well, she couldn't walk for about six and a half months after the incident and she says that whenever she fights now, she gets terrifying visions or flashbacks to when the Red Lotus tortured her; not only that, but she also said that she can't enter the Avatar State anymore, but she hasn't told anybody but me that yet," I explained.

"You two seem really close."

'Well, I would hope so; I devoted both my body and spirit to her to be able to fly and save her life, so…"

"Oh, so that's how you fly? The power of love?" Kanon questioned with a smirk on her face.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but it's not important, and in response to what you said," I stuck my tongue out behind me, to which she lightly hit my arm, thankfully not disabling it like before. "Anyway, I've been helping her to recover the past two years at her home in the Southern Water Tribe, and then the Fire Lord sent the letter I showed you earlier, asking for the avatar's help, but she's nowhere near ready to fight for real."

"So you came instead," Kanon finished. "To protect her."

"Yeah, it sounds pretty cheesy doesn't it?" I scratched the back of my head in slight embarrassment.

"Well, I think it's really sweet of you. And I'll have you know that I'm not going to let you back down from this 'Korra' girl when you try to put the moves on me, got it?"

"What?! I would never!" I yelled in defense, to which I heard her giggle.

"Alright, alright, Softie, I'll change it to 'if you put the moves on me', okay?"

I sighed. "Right," I said, my voice unenthusiastic, which only made her giggle more. "So where's the Fire Lord's Palace?"

"It's about a day away, keep going down this road," she said without hesitation.

"Have you been there before? It sounds like you know where you're going."

"Well, I mean, I've been there a few times for special occasions, yeah."

"Like what?"

"Well…like when Fire Lord Izumi was crowned. That was when I was like…eleven or twelve."

"I see…"

Once the day of travel passed, and we drew nearer to the palace, Kanon started talking a lot less, putting her under suspicion in my eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" I questioned.

"Yeah, fine, why?"

"You're not talking; makes for a boring conversation if I'm the only one conversing," I explained. "You got something against the Fire Lord?"

"Well, she only my…never mind."

"Hm…never mind; you don't have to tell me," I said, to which I got a look of confusion.

"What? Tell you what?"

"Something is troubling my friend; I'm not so dense as to not see that, and I'll bet anything that it has to do with the Fire Lord, and since we're going to meet her, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough."

She nodded. "Make the next right and we'll be there in about a minute."

She didn't need to tell me that. I could already see the scenery changing from the normal Fire Nation countryside to a more pristine gardenesque area. If I had kept going straight, I would've stumbled into the Fire Nation's capital, but when I made the right turn, I entered a courtyard that led to a courtyard within a larger courtyard…if that makes sense. Basically think of it like an entryway to a circle and if you went further into the circle, you would enter a smaller circle…I think.

Anyway, we were halted almost immediately after we entered. "Halt, who approaches the Fire Nation Royal Palace without being summoned?"

I fished around in my pocket and pulled out the letter, unfolding it and handing it to the guard. "My friend and I here are here on official business. This letter was sent to Avatar Korra in the Southern Water Tribe a few days ago; I'm here on her behalf."

"I see…so you're here to help with the Red Lotus," he handed me the letter. "Right this way."

He led us to the past the inner courtyard to a sort of war room, where I saw three figures, two arguing and one standing off by himself. I cleared my throat to get their attention, to which they turned and glared at me for interrupting them. The older woman cleared her throat as well, brushing off her robes while the younger male straightened his uniform.

"Hello, I'm-" I started, though the male interrupted me.

"You aren't Avatar Korra," he stated.

My shoulders drooped. "I realized, Sergeant."

"Sergeant?!"

"Anyway, my name is Yuuto, and I've come in Korra's place; she still hasn't fully recovered from her dealings with the Red Lotus two years ago," I turned to the older woman. "You must be Fire Lord Izumi; it's an honor to meet you," I bowed lower than normal before hopping off of Naga. I then gestured to my partner. "And this is-"

"Kanon?" the man finished. "What are you doing back here?"

Kanon turned away, avoiding eye contact with either of them. "Mother, Iroh," she addressed them.

"He asked you a question," Izumi repeated.

"It's good to see you too…" she trailed off, hopping down as well. Her brother shook his head.

"No, you're right, it is good to see you. We've been worried," he said as he walked up to her and pulled her into an awkward hug. "You've been gone for years, and you've grown up so much, I almost didn't recognize you."

Kanon soon returned the hug before they both let go. "Thank you. I would say it's good to be home, but-"

"I won't repeat myself again," Izumi's voice was sterner this time.

"Excuse me, but could we get onto business?" I spoke up. "Kanon's here to help; that's all that matters right now."

A silence surrounded the room, only interrupted at first by the loner's snickering. Iroh turned to his sister. "Right then, while they talk business, let's catch up."

She nodded and let herself be escorted out, the door closing behind them. The glare that I had been sending the Fire Lord soon softened. "I'm sorry; it really…wasn't my place to speak out like that."

"No, you were right; there are more important matters at hand. I'm sorry for the distraction, but onto business. As you know, I require aid in weeding out the Red Lotus from the Fire Nation. After having us turn against the other Nations, I refuse to let a symbiote be what brings us down."

"Right. You care to introduce me to," I motioned to the loner, who stepped out into the light, revealing a man around my age, wearing somewhat shabby clothing, though shabby isn't the right word. Used? Worn out? I'm not sure.

"The name's Ling; I'm a soundbender."

"Gesundheit."

Ling's features drooped. "No, man, it's soundbending."

I turned to Izumi, who simply nodded. "The boy is one of a kind; invented a brand new form of bending the air; a real prodigy."

"Oh, so it's kind of like lightning bending but for air…got it, you mind showing me how it works? I'm an airbender myself, and I would love to learn."

"Sure, no prob, stand back," he said as he turned to his side. "See, for sound, air is a medium; the waves of sound travel through the air to our ears and with a little tweaking of the air, the sound can be altered in a lot of ways, like this," he took a deep breath before screaming, except the scream was so high pitched and powerful that it was a concussive force, blasting the banner of the Fire Nation back into the wall with great power. I must've looked amazed, because Ling was smirking. "Alright, now show me what you can do."

"Well, I can fly."

He didn't look impressed. "So can I," he stated.

"No, I mean without actually using any energy, like this."

I began floating off the ground and soon took off, flying circles around the room, shooting individual air blasts at the wall to show off a little before landing. "Alright…that's a little better; you mind teaching me?"

"Um…I don't think it'll work out. I only three people in the history of airbending have been able to do it; one of which is dead, another I took their bending away, and the third is me…sorry."

"Wait, you can take peoples' bending away?"

"Well, only once, but I know how to, yeah…"

"Good, that'll be useful for when we catch those terrorists," Izumi said confidently.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Actually, I'd prefer not to, if you don't mind; I only did it to Zaheer because he threatened Korra's life and she wouldn't want me to kill him."

"Hmm…" Izumi turned.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, just thinking is all," she said before the doors opened, and Lord Zuko walked in. "Father," she addressed him, and they both bowed, followed by me. Ling just stood there with a blank face.

"Izumi, Yuuto. It's good to see you."

"Do you need something, father?"

"No, but I knew that you would need an extra set of hands," he held up his hands, producing small flames.

"Aren't you a little old to be doing this?" I asked while chuckling slightly before stopping when no one joined. Izumi gave me a dirty look, while Zuko soon chuckled himself.

"Trust me, kid; my uncle fought pretty well at my age too. I can still take care of myself," he assured, to which nodded.

"Alright, now that the introductions are out of the way, what are we dealing with here? Do you know of any notable bases or members of the Red Lotus that I could pound?"

Izumi ushered us to the table in the middle of the room, where a map of the Fire Nation was laid out before us. "Ling has been sent out and has pinpointed several potential bases for the Red Lotus members to congregate, but we've been waiting for a bit more firepower like you to arrive. In terms of notable members," she gestured to the edge of the table, where several photographs, some clear, some not, were laid out. She handed them to me. "There are three; a mechanic named Souta, who we suspect is building some kind of superweapon."

"Go figure," I joked, taking a look at the guy.

"The next is Kaito, a waterbender."

"Ugh, I hate that chick; she changes my medium to something I can't control…"

"And finally, we have Sakeme, who can firebend."

"That's all? I expected more to get Korra's h-"

"I wasn't finished. Sakeme can firebend, yes, but he can also earthbend."


	14. 14 First Strike

"What do you mean he can firebend and earthbend?" I questioned. "That's impossible; only the Avatar can bend more than one element."

"Apparently not," Ling said. "I've run into him a few times when trying to take their bases; he can bend both at once, and trust me…it ain't pretty."

I closed my eyes and lowered my head. "No, that can't be right; you people must've been seeing things."

"Hey, if you can fly and I can bend sound, then why can't you believe someone can bend more than one element?" Ling questioned.

"I just…I need to medi-"

The doors burst open, and Kanon came running in. "Grandpa!" she cried, running into open arms. The two embraced each other. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Oh, hello there Kanon; it _has_ been a while, hasn't it? It's been what? Four years? Where've you been all of this time?"

"I've been on Kyoshi Island," she answered, the two separating.

"Strange, I didn't see you when I visited."

"Well I was…kinda hiding," she admitted, scratching the back of her head. "It would've been really awkward anyway. But I promise that I missed you the most."

Iroh flicked her on the back of the head. "Thanks a lot, little sis."

"Oh please; you're old enough to be my dad!" she argued. "I can't love you like a brother anymore; you're forty!"

"Almost," he reminded her. "It's getting late; we should start preparing for dinner. I'll go let the chefs know to cook extra tonight," he said as he left, closing the doors behind him.

Izumi cautiously eyed Kanon and vice-versa, the two silently wishing the other to go away. I sighed. "Can't you two just work this out?" I whined.

"I don't have anything to work out," Kanon said stubbornly. Izumi didn't respond, simply going over the bases and members of the Red Lotus.

A while later, at dinner, no words were spoken, giving me vibes like I had two years ago when I first moved to the Southern Water Tribe. I was tempted to act the same way too, but I figured that it wouldn't work out so perfectly this time.

"So, Kanon," Zuko spoke up, apparently not enjoying the silence as much as I wasn't. "Would you like to resume your firebending training?"

"I'll pass, but thank you," Kanon said politely. "I'm perfectly happy with what I know," it was like venom was put into her words, subtly directing them at her mother.

Izumi's eye twitched, but otherwise no one stirred. Zuko elected to ignore it as he turned to me. "Yuuto, we haven't talked in so long; how has the Southern Water Tribe been?"

"It's been good, though nothing as impressive as this," I motioned to the building. "Still, I do miss their cuisine a bit; I fell in love with their seafood; the best I've ever had!"

"You'll have to set me up sometime," he said, enjoying the conversation. "And how has Korra been doing?"

"A lot better actually; it was rough at first, but she's slowly getting to be the Avatar we know and love," I explained. "Though, because she's not here, she's not at 100% yet."

"I see. That's unfortunate. Give her my regards when you leave."

"I will. Hey, that reminds me; how long do you think this will take?"

"Oh yes; you would be worried as you are solely devoted to Avatar Korra, wouldn't you?" he reminded himself.

"If I would guess; I'd say a couple of months, but you may leave whenever you feel you've done enough. I'm not your ruler; I won't control you," Izumi said. "And that goes for you too, Kanon."

"…" Kanon looked down, nibbling on her food. "…The meal is great; you'll have to praise the chefs, Iroh."

"Right, I'll be sure to do that, though it was mother's idea to have this tonight," he mentioned, to which he got no response from either of them, leaving the rest of dinner in silence.

I took my leave early, not wanting to be bothered during meditation. I needed to ask Wan about a few things.

I was enveloped in the darkness as Wan appeared before me. "Yo! Haven't seen you in a while!" he greeted. We both gave each other a rough handshake. "What's up? Need to ask something?"

"Yeah, I need to know if it's possible to bend more than one element, like fire and earth at the same time."

"Well, if you're the Avatar…otherwise, it shouldn't be possible, unless…no, never mind."

"What?"

"Before I was joined with Raava, when I asked the Air Lion Turtle to give me his power while I was controlling fire, he said that I wouldn't be able to handle it, that my body wouldn't anyway. Maybe…this person…hmm…" he lowered his head to think.

"Do you think it's possible, but if they do use it, that it causes them pain?"

"That's most likely the case; when Raava entered my body during the fight with Vaatu, the pain was nigh unbearable, but I was given power unlike any other, so I guess it was a double-edged sword."

I nodded. "Right, thank you…so, you wanna talk about anything else?"

He chuckled. "I'm a voice inside your head; I don't really get much to talk about," he joked. "But whenever you need me, I'll be here. Sayonara!" he did a little salute with his pointer and middle fingers before his image faded, and I was back in actual reality, only to have someone poking my cheek.

I opened my eyes and I looked to find Kanon rearing her hand back, surprised that I was aware of her annoyances. "Yes?" I asked.

"Well, you've been sitting here for hours, and it was freaking me out."

"I was meditating," I said as I leaned back and falling onto my back. "It helps me learn things that I wouldn't know otherwise."

"Right, got it. Anyway, Iroh is already getting ready for tomorrow for an attack; I thought I'd let you know."

"An honest-to-goodness soldier, eh?"

"I guess so."

I hopped up. "Alright, I'm gonna go help him. You coming?"

She nodded and followed me, where we helped to load everything up to the battle tomorrow.

So it turns out that our main strategy was to spread out forces outward gradually, beginning with the nearest base to the palace and making our way to the shoreline.

This particular base was disguised as a simple tea shop which, according to Zuko, made a mockery of his uncle's work, whatever that meant.

We started with Ling and me simply scouting the place out, looking for any holes in their disguise. After all, if it did just turn out to be a tea shop, then it would be stupid to attack it. Soon, we pinpointed several loose floorboards in the shape of a kind of trapdoor or emergency escape which led underground, as well as getting glimpses on behind the cloth separating the serving area with the tea-making area, but instead of that second area, it was just a dark hallway.

"I think it's safe to say that they're something wrong here," Ling said, to which I nodded. We both stood and approached the exit, only to be blocked by two of the employees.

"Please, sit down," they said as they cracked their knuckles. "Your tea will be out momentarily."

Ling and I exchanged a glance before both shooting air at the two to propel them outside, sending a signal to attack. Soon, we were ambushed by the other customers, spies I should say, as they began bending mostly fire at us, but some earth was also thrown in.

Soon, the others joined the brawl, Kanon deftly flipped through a window and began incapacitating the fighters, and Iroh and his man blasted the entire front wall open with a cannon blast of a fireball before taking down the Red Lotus members as well.

In a very short amount of time, the fight was over, leaving several prisoners to be taken back. Meanwhile, I was examining those loose floorboards, trying to get them up. Soon, I got sick of using force and simply shot concentrated blasts at them to split them and allow me to lift them up quite easily.

"Hey! Down here," I called Iroh over. He gave some orders to some of his men before following me down.

We arrived in a tunnel far underground. Soon, we entered a larger area, where we were met by a wall of Red Lotus members, who soon surrounded us. Iroh and I stood back to back, ready to fight. "You mind flying us out of here?" he asked.

"Something tells me they would shoot us down," I said. "Quick, make a big fireball."

He soon obeyed, holding it in the air as they enemy started closing in. I soon took action as began spinning the fireball, faster and faster before Iroh caused it to burst, spraying flames everywhere. That took all of the non firebenders out, leaving only about ten to fifteen people to get, and soon they were down as well.

Iroh and I waited for the other to get down here, and when they did, Ling and I continued on ahead through the passage. This one was nearly as long, but it certainly was worse on my nose, becoming that of a sewer.

Eventually, we heard footsteps ahead of us. "Why is it that I always have to clean up their messes?" a female voice questioned, soon revealing herself as Kaito. "Oh, hello there, little soundbender."

"Oh, it's you," Ling feigned disinterest. "You should surrender now, save yourself the embarrassment."

"We'll see," she said as she enveloped her arms in water from below us. I got into a stance.

"No way, Yuuto, she's mine."

I shrugged and stepped back, taking mild interest in the fight. Ling shot his sound at her, but I soon saw what he meant about changing the medium. Kaito simply pulled up a wall of water out of her rather large water satchel on her back, stopping the sound without evaporating the water, allowing her to use it again to block the next sound wave.

Kaito then dashed forward, dodging Ling's attacks and getting right up into his face, swatting him past me. Kaito looked to me. "Are you next?"

"Nope, I was told to stay out of this."

Just then Ling came out from under me, shooting rapid blasts of both air and sound at Kaito, all of which were blocked by her water. She might just have been the best waterbender I'd ever seen, better than Tonraq even.

Once again, Ling was knocked past me, but by then, rapid footsteps came from behind us. "And here comes the cavalry," I said as I took charge, flying past her and knocking her off her feet and then away from me with a blast of air before she could get up.

Now several yards away, I didn't have enough time to get to her before she ran off. Soon Iroh and Kanon appeared. I pointed down the passage.

"Kaito was here, she ran off that way. I'll try and find her outside," I said before flying off, leaving Ling in the dust.

As I flew out of the fake tea shop, I scoured every corner of the godforsaken town, but it was like she just disappeared off the face of the planet. After a while of searching the outskirts and coming up with nothing, I went back to Iroh and the others. I shook my head.

"Nothing; she escaped," I said regretfully.

"Don't feel so down," Kanon assured me, shaking me a little.

"Yeah, one base down and several prisoners. I'd say that's a victory," Iroh added.

I nodded. "Alright, let's get back and plan the next attack."

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys thanks so much for reading, and don't forget to leave a review, good or bad. I hope you're all enjoying and I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter!**


	15. 15 Capture 2

Months had passed, and the mission has been growing in success. We've been taking down base after base, though strangely we've only run into Kaito, not Souta or Sakeme. I could almost see Korra's face again when I go back successful. Naga has certainly been enjoying all of the food she gets and the short breaks between strikes have been enjoyable and peaceful…for the most part.

Unfortunately, Kanon still refuses to even acknowledge her mother and while I knew it wasn't my business, I still talked to her about it every now and then, only to be angrily shaken off. Still, other than that, Zuko has been sharing tales of his time with Avatar Aang, which I have, in turn, been sharing with Wan who was eager about his future life.

Still, with all of these victories, the last thing I expected…was an attack.

It started out like any other day before our own attack; most of it was spent learning the plan, which I had gotten quite good at if I do say so myself, but then we heard what sounded like small tremors. When we came outside, the first thing I noticed was the smoke above the walls; the entrance had been blown apart. "Get the Fire Lord out of here!" I quickly yelled before the wall separating us from the enemy exploded. A couple of the soldiers and Ling escorted Izumi out of the action as several fireballs were thrown our way.

Iroh and Zuko diffused them with their own as our opponents came into view: one normal man and several mecha suits. The man looked familiar. "Sakeme," Iroh confirmed.

"Right. I may not be able to beat him, but I can at least distract the guy while you three take out the mecha suits with lightning and fire," I offered. They both nodded. "Alright, break!"

I dashed forward into the air, tackling the man before he could react and threw him into the larger courtyard. I began shooting several blasts of air toward him, though he retaliated tenfold, sending concentrated fire blasts as well as lightning at me.

Soon I barely had any time to attack, busy defending myself from his endless barrage. "What the hell are you?" I demanded, bewildered that he could attack so ferociously for so long.

"Nothing that you'll ever understand, Zephyr."

After another volley between us, and just as I was about to get the upper hand he tightened his fist, raising several boulders into the air. I could almost feel his agony as he threw them my way, soon following with several fire blasts.

His attack speed then increased as he could send two elements my way at once. I landed and retaliated with an air wave to knock him off his feet, but he raised a wall and then sent it to me which tripped me up. As I tried to fly up and away, he locked my ankles down with earth and then sent several blasts at me, which I barely managed to diffuse with air shields. Eventually, he locked my arms down as well, and was about to batter me with fire, when Kanon burst through the smoke surrounding us.

"Get away from him!" she yelled, and in desperation, shot flames out of her mouth.

"Kanon, you…firebent!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I mean, I just…wanted to save-"

"Not now, little sis!" Iroh yelled as he burst through, diffusing several of Sakeme's fire blasts that were aimed at her before sending his own. Kanon and Zuko took the opportunity to break my bonds and allow me to rest myself as the others took over the fight. It didn't last however as their reinforcements arrived.

I stood and shot a concentrated blast through the entrance that they were coming in from and airbent some of the surrounding flames into the entryway to make it more difficult for them.

When I returned to the matter at hand, the others were fighting a losing battle with Sakeme; Iroh was getting knocked down, Zuko was down for the count, and Kanon was struggling to keep up with him.

I soon joined the fray. "Go make sure Fire Lord Izumi is okay," I told Iroh. "We'll hold them off for a while before joining you. And take Lord Zuko too."

He nodded and shot one last fireball at our adversary before picking up Zuko and heading out, past the Red Lotus members.

As Kanon and I started to gain the upper hand in the fight, Sakeme began using earthbending again, throwing us off balance. Soon, he had knocked Kanon out cold, and I was losing my footing at several points.

I started to make a break for Kanon to pick her up and fly out, but he blocked my way and wouldn't give up the position. "What's wrong? Won't leave your girlfriend?"

"Of course not!" I countered. "And she's not my-" I was interrupted when a rock hit the back of my head, and I fell down, my vision quickly going black.

I woke to simple darkness. I couldn't move, and my limbs were chained because I heard jingling when I tried to move them, though they were sore as all hell so I quickly stopped.

Soon, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I could make out another figure to my right, probably Kanon who was knocked out with me. "Hey, Kanon," I called, waking her up almost immediately.

"Huh? Where are we?" she inquired, her voice lined with worry. "What happened to the Fire Lord?"

"Oh don't worry; she's safe and sound inside a cell," a familiar voice appeared as the door opened. "I made sure of that when you told us to ditch the palace."

"Ling?" I questioned. "Quick, get us down from here."

"No can do," he said, raising his hands.

"What? You mean you're a traitor?"

"Sorry man, but I don't exactly have a choice. Once you join, you can't exactly get out," he said. "You know, I really did like you, like we had a connection; both being airbenders and all, but it's just the way the gods made us, I guess?"

"Gods?" I wondered, before shaking my head. "Never mind that; you mean all those times you fought Kaito-"

"Oh no; I still want to beat the crap out of her, just…tides have turned."

"Right…what are you going to do with us?"

Ling was about to answer, when another familiar face came through the passageway. "Souta," Kanon whispered.

"I'll answer that question, actually. You see, we could really use people like you in our ranks, as brothers and sisters in anarchy if you will."

"Yeah right. I'm already taken; I don't need another commitment. Besides, I heard the pay sucks," I mocked him, only to find two more people enter, faceless people who walked over to the base of our chains. They began charging electricity in their fingers. "You wouldn't," I grimaced.

"I assure you that it won't kill you, it'll just…hurt a lot."

With that, a stream of electricity was shot into and travelled up the chains to our bodies. I did my best to hold in the screams, but they just flowed out. They seemed to come out of Kanon to, but hers had fire come out as well, lighting up the room with the lightning.

When it stopped, the electricity flowed out the other chains, though I noticed distinctly that more electricity was coming out of Kanon's chains than mine, making me feel sorrier for her than for me as she was probably taking more punishment.

We were both panting, with Souta watching us; Ling had left. "Do me a favor," Kanon panted. "Don't make fun of them while they're in the room!" she snapped, yanking on her chains.

"They're going to do it to us anyway, so why not have a little solace?" I retorted.

"For the love of," Souta gestured to the electrocutioners. "Shut up!" he yelled as they sent a quick shock through us. "Now let me make this very clear. The airbender was correct in that you will be…persuaded every single day of your life until you join us. And you _will_ give in eventually. How long it takes depends on you."


	16. 16 Parents

Months in this hellhole…lightning being shot at me every single day…sorry, shot through me. I don't how much more I can take it; I thought I was going to die here, I felt like I had failed. I failed Korra, Kanon, Lord Zuko; everyone.

Not only that, but after about a month, they sent Sakeme to send rocks at me, adding to my misery, but I swore to myself that I wouldn't give in. "Join us, or succumb to the pain," the dual-bender insisted, using his fire to get into my face.

"I've lasted this long; why would I stop now?" I questioned, to which more lightning was shot through us.

"Yuuto, please stop back talking the evil anarchists…" Kanon moaned. She says that when she had been faring better than me.

"I can take all the pain you can dish out," I spat in his face.

"You haven't felt the pain that I have! You don't know what true pain is!" Sakeme yelled, throwing a few small boulders into my chest before nearly collapsing in pain himself.

"Why are you even working for them? You're not evil; I can tell. You're just in pain; you're being abused by the Red Lotus, aren't you?"

"They said that they can get rid of my abnormality; that they can take away my earthbending for good. Once that's done, I'll have no business with them!"

"Wait! I know where-"

"Don't waste your breath spreading lies; I've searched in almost every corner of this earth for a way to get rid of it; what chance do you have of knowing how to?"

"Fine then, but you realize what the Red Lotus is doing, don't you? They're spreading chaos throughout the Fire Nation. Do you really want that?"

"I don't really care if they destroy the rising sun, so long as my earthbending is gone. I can't see it anyway," he said as he landed back onto the ground. "Another session," he ordered as the Red Lotus members sent us on another electrifying journey.

Several times I tried to escape, but each time was unsuccessful. At first, Kanon and I came up with a plan where she would change sides and then try to free me, but they had truth seers to foil that plan. Next we tried to get out by force, but I was too weak to fight at that point, so that was a no go; Kanon couldn't get us out on her own.

So for now, we were just stuck here.

Meanwhile, Ling was off having his own adventure in a different part of the prison. Finally, his hard work would have paid off, and would get to see…

"Big brother?" a high pitched female voice entered his eyes, and made him smile and run to where he could see her.

"Xiang!" he cried, grabbing her arms tightly through the bars. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Brother, what is this place? I'm…"

"Don't worry, Xiang, everything will be okay. I won't let anything bad happen to you; this is just…a temporary home for us," he lied. "I promise things will go back to the way they were soon…I promise…" he trailed off as tears began falling from his eyes.

A hand gripped his shoulder roughly. He swiftly turned around and shot a wave of air at whoever it was. "Get away from us!" he yelled, soundbending while doing so, but they only blocked it with a wall of water. He drew back, protecting the little girl in the cell.

"Tch, one more outburst like that, and things won't be 'okay'," Kaito mocked. "Alright, I showed you that she's fine, now let's go."

Slowly, Ling turned back around to his sister. "I have to go now, but I'll be back soon. Okay?" he asked softly. The smaller girl slowly nodded, tears in her eyes. Then Ling stood and exited with the woman he hated, leaving the family he loved.

Back in Kanon and I's little holding cell, our "persuasion" had just ended, leaving both of us exhausted. "Hey, Yuuto…" she said before deep breaths. "Maybe…"

"Don't say it…You want to give up, don't you?" I questioned, my voice nearing accusatory.

"I just…can't take much more of this for you."

"…Fine, go ahead. I won't think any less of you."

"…Thank you…"

"And despite what you may think, and despite what you may want, you're special; I can tell."

"I mean, I-"

"And not just because you're the Fire Lord's daughter or because you can barely firebend; I think you're special because of what you chose to become. You were born to royalty and yet you chose to live as part of a collective; that's something not many people would do. It shows character. Don't worry either; I'll make sure you get back to Kyoshi Island, one way or another."

She nodded. "Alright, I'll trust you…just this once."

I smirked. "Thanks."

Ling then approached the two. "Oh, how touching between the goody-two-shoes'; plural."

"What do you want, traitor?" Kanon demanded.

"Hey, I don't want to be here anymore than you do."

"Please, just tell us why you can't leave and we can help you fix it. Two airbenders shouldn't be fighting one another like this."

"You mean like you and Zaheer?" he countered, causing me to rear back. "I've been doing my research on you, Zephyr. Born to two middle-class parents in Ba Sing Se, you ran from the upper ring when your parents were threatened by the Earth Queen."

"You're from the Earth Kingdom?" Kanon questioned. "You care to explain?"

"I'd rather not relive those days; life in the upper ring was stressful and lonely; that's all that you need to know."

"I'd think it would be the same as any other wealthy life; full of luxury."

"Unless your parents ignore you and threatened to throw you out every day! And not to mention the fact of having everything precious to you get taken away in an instant!" I snapped before taking a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "Being in a wealthy family in the Earth Kingdom isn't exactly a walk in the park. In the Southern Water Tribe, every family is treated equally, and family and community are held in high regards; the opposite could be said about the upper ring. Everyone was scared all of the time and no one talked to each other except to go to political meetings."

"It's better than being controlled by your family every day," Kanon countered. "Think of what it's like to not be able to be yourself and yet always be the center of attention. There's nothing more infuriating than being forced to speak out in a crowd reading a speech that was written weeks in advance without your input."

"I would've much preferred that to having to fend for myself. My parents left ten years ago, leaving my sister and I-" Ling started.

"Your sister! That's it!" I cried, excited. "They took your sister, didn't they?" I questioned, though was then blasted by a sound wave that made my ears ring for several minutes. I saw Ling's mouth move, but I couldn't make out words before he stormed off.

I shook my head several times, and eventually the ringing stopped.

"What'd he say?" I asked.

"He said you'll get her killed if you keep talking like that. Then he left," Kanon explained. I nodded, soon thinking of exactly how to get him back on our side

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, so I took a little break yesterday to finish up writing this arc and plus it was Sunday, so...yeah, we're back!**

**I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the nex chapter! Don't forget to R&amp;R!**


	17. 17 Vibrato

A rumbling was heard a week after we last spoke. Our "persuasion" was in full effect at that time, and I at first thought that it was simply dizziness from having rocks and lightning pelted at me, but soon I realized when the pain suddenly stopped and the doors opened and closed back up, did I realize that this was a rescue mission.

Kanon quickly started calling for help, calling for her older brother who had escaped. I tried to join in, but my energy was spent trying not to pass out.

"Would you shut up?!" the guard demanded. "These walls are soundproof, so no one can hear you!"

"Soundproof, eh? Well, if sound won't go through them, then it'll knock them down…" I mumbled, trying to remember Ling's explanation of soundbending.

"…_for sound, air is a medium; the waves of sound travel through the air to our ears and with a little tweaking of the air, the sound can be altered in a lot of ways…"_

"Tweak the air…" I mumbled before taking a large breath. I then scream at the top of lungs, trying desperately to bend the sound waves. I soon ran out of breath. "Gods, how in the hell do I tweak the air?" I moaned, finding it hopeless.

"Try a shorter scream that _won't_ make me go deaf," Kanon suggested.

I took another deep breath. "Maybe if I…try and feel the vibrations in the air."

"You mean like seismic sense?"

"Yes, I…guess…" I said as I tried to focus my mind. I began breathing, in and out, trying to see the vibrations.

"Maybe you have to think differently; Great-Granduncle Iroh invented lightning redirection by thinking like a waterbender, so maybe the same thing applies here."

I tried that; just like I could see the ripples in the ocean. I imagined the air as an ocean, one that ripples were clearly visible in, and then it just came to me. I closed my eyes, and I could almost see everything. As I exhaled, I saw a funnel come from my mouth. If I could just…

I tried once again, focusing on bending that funnel to be concentrated. I screamed, making a really high pitched sound and completely blasting through the wall.

I began coughing, the scream all but destroying my throat, and the smoke from the debris didn't exactly help. Soon Ling stepped through, slowly clapping. "Good first attempt," he commented.

"Second actually," Kanon corrected him.

"Well whatever, you still won't get out so long as I-" something hit the back of his head, and as he fell I saw Iroh standing behind him. He quickly freed us, with me simply plummeting to the ground while Iroh caught his little sister and shared a heartwarming hug while I face planted. Thanks a lot, partner.

Zuko and a freed Izumi quickly picked up the unconscious Ling while Kanon half-dragged half-carried me out, my legs refusing to accept any weight. Soon, as we came out, Naga rushed up to me and nuzzled me. "Hey, girl…" I mumbled, allowing Kannon to put me on her back, with her following soon after.

The base was literally on fire, even the rock walls, though there was a staircase for us to escape out of here. "Where are the other soldiers?" Kanon questioned.

"Already out; let's go!" he said as we climbed up the stairs as the tunnels collapsed behind us. It felt too good to be true as the light of the sun drenched my skin. I would've enjoyed it more had I not been in so bad a condition.

With that, I promptly lost consciousness because…reasons…I was tired, okay?!

_Another bright, sunny day in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, another perfect and beautiful-_

"_What the hell do you mean he got a C-?!" my father demanded of my mother. "Our kid had better step up his game, or…"_

"_Or what, Tai? You just want to throw him out?" my mother questioned, slamming her palm on the table. "No, I refuse to let him just wander the streets alone, with no one to watch out for him. Even if he wants to, he's not ready."_

"_You give him too much credit, Cheng. The kid's reckless. He keeps going like this, he ain't got a future, especially not one with me," my father ended the conversation, with my mother storming off. I quickly darted back up to my room, where I was supposed to be staying, before my mother entered._

"_Yuuto, can I talk to you?"_

"_Sure, mom, what's up?"_

"_Well, your father and I have been talking, and we think you should focus more on your studies. You're spending too much time outside, with those hooligans from the lower ring."_

"_But mom, they're my friends," I reminded her. "It's not like we're doing anything bad."_

"_Even still, your grades are suffering. Just…for now, we need you to stay here and study. Not for long, but just until things smooth over in your grades."_

"_But I-"_

"_No buts. Please, do this for me," she said, placing her hand on top of his. _

"_I…alright. I'll stay here and work for a while," I assured her, letting he turn around, exposing the bruises on her neck and back. I clenched my fist just thinking about it._

_The next few weeks were quiet, like really quiet, but I did what I said I would do and got my grades up, leading to me having my limited freedom once again. I then wandered the lower ring, looking for my friends. "Hey, Yuyu!" one of them called, a girl my age who I'd had a crush on for the longest time. Her name was Mei. I jogged over to her._

"_Where're the others today?" I wondered. "They're usually stalking you, aren't they?"_

_She pushed my shoulder playfully. "They're my brothers and your friends too."_

"_I know, I know," I waved her off. "But they are usually with you."_

"_Well, yeah, but I…kind of ditched them…to spend more time with you," she admitted, to which I pinched myself, only to jump from the pain. "What was that?"_

"_A test to make sure I wasn't dreaming," I said before grabbing her hand. "Let's go!"_

_And so we went around shopping, with the money that my mom had to smuggle for me from my dad, and we went to eat lunch and then we went to the closest thing to a nice park in the lower ring, when we were approached by these two guys. "Hey, you're one of those richy-rich assholes from the upper ring, ain't ya?" one them demanded._

"_Maybe I am, what of it?"_

"_Yuuto, don't," Mei urged me to not provoke them, grabbing my arm. Keep in mind that I didn't have airbending at this point. _

"_You don't really think you can beat us, do you?" the other questioned, bending a stone into his hand to show off. "We could stomp you flat."_

_I took the first punch, trying to catch them off guard, but soon my hands were locked together with earth cuffs. I rolled between one of their legs, and bashed my hands free with their head. However, this only left me open to having a rock smashed into my forehead, knocking me to the ground. "Yuuto! Oh gods," Mei cried. It was the last thing I heard before blacking out._

_I awoke to soft pillows and beautiful singing by my crush. Her voice was so perfect, full of vibrato without making it obnoxious. I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her, sitting by my side, reading her book. She was always reading; learning new things, teaching me new things. I wanted the moment to last forever, just listening to her voice…but that could never happen._

_When she noticed I was awake, she stopped singing and placed a cool rag on my forehead. "I'm so sorry if I woke you up," she said, patting my hand which was at my side. "My brothers and I took you back to our house," she explained my surroundings. It was the first time I had been in here. Three beds in one room, but it was comfy enough._

"_No, it's okay, but…I'm sorry for not backing down when you told me to," I said as I sat up. _

"_It's fine, I thought it was really brave," she moved to sit at the edge of the bed. "You're an example to everyone who can't defend themselves, to people in pain…like you did for me when my parents disappeared."_

_I slowly raised my hand to her cheek, and leaned in to kiss her, which she gladly returned. Suddenly, both of our faces were shrouded in a purplish hue, and when we looked outside, the entire sky had turned that color. It lasted for several minutes; several minutes of wondering what was going on, when suddenly, everything returned to normal, and life went on just as it had before, but I felt…something. It was like a part of me had awoken, even if I didn't know it then, and I didn't know it then; go figure._

_The next few days passed by me in a blur. I would spend most of my time with Mei, and soon, everything started changing; people began disappearing after having strange disturbances happen around them._

_Then, it happened. I felt a sneeze coming on, and when I let it out, a strong gust of wind far greater than normal blew out of my mouth, making Mei's brothers' hair stick up in a comical manner. Bewildered, I tried again, blowing deliberately and getting the same effect._

_Next I tried it with my hands and then my feet, soon hovering gently off the ground. "Whoa…"_

_The feeling was strange, almost like first learning out to ride a bike; if took a minute, but once you got the hang of it, it felt like second nature. "Wait! I've heard of this!" Mei said happily. "That's airbending!"_

"_I can…airbend?" I questioned, landing shakily. I had always hated being in the air. "I can airbend!" I cried happily, pumping my fists into the air. "You guys wanna go-"_

_The brothers stopped me before I got started. "Sorry man, food first airbending later. We'll be right back. Come on, Mei."_

_She nodded and left with them, leaving me alone. Was no one impressed that I could airbend like that?_

_I stood and exited to the park that Mei and I shared before I got the crap kicked out of me, and soon ran into the two jerks themselves, still there and ready to cause trouble. "Oh, back for more, eh?" they inquired, raising a fist._

_Without allowing them to react, I shot my palms forward, sending a blast of air into them and sending them flying across the park. I snickered at their failure and rubbed under my nose, proud of myself._

"_Hey, Yuyu!" Mei's voice filled my ears as I turned around._

"_Mei! Did you see what I just did? I just, like went _whoosh_ and then they were gone! Isn't that…uh…" I trailed off when I saw her disapproving expression._

"_What are you thinking abusing your power like that?"_

"_But they started it!" I retorted it, not exactly helping my case._

"_Why didn't you do what I said before and just back down?" she questioned._

"_Well, I just…"_

"_Look, my brothers could use some help with the groceries. And extra set of hands would be nice, and _don't_ mention this again. I don't want you hurting people," I nodded and followed her to help._

_That night, I ran home, excited to share the news with my mom. "Hey, hey mom, guess what?"_

"_Yes, dear? What is it?" she asked, the two sitting down in a rare occurrence where they weren't fighting._

"_I can airbend!" I exclaimed shooting a couple blasts and disheveling the curtains. The two exchanged looks and then grimaced subtly. "W…what is it?"_

_My mother soon regained her composure. "Nothing; that's wonderful. We'll have to start you on training then soon."_

"_Cool!"_

"_Alright, off to bed with you, go," she shoed me away in a motherly fashion._

_The next day, I couldn't find Mei or her bothers anywhere. I looked in their house, the park, everywhere, but here was absolutely no sign of them. When I went to the park, there wasn't even any trace of those two assholes. When I went back to the house, I approached it cautiously, for whatever reason I can't quite remember._

_I approached the door, and heard my mother's sniffling, followed by an unknown voice saying "I'm sorry" before footsteps were heard. I leapt up to the top of the house._

"_We'll do it quickly and painlessly. Don't worry; your standing won't be effected by this," the voice assured them, though my mother's tears were still heard._

_Were they…going to let these people take me away? It sure sounded like that._

_After the man, who was dressed in a long black robe, left, I heard my dad say the final words I would hear from either of them. "Eh, he wasn't exactly doing us any favors anyway; best to forget him as quickly as possible."_

_That set me off. I shot down to the entrance. "You don't want me?!" I demanded. "Fine!" I shot my father away with an air blast before running away, far away and into the lower ring. I went back to Mei's house and threw myself into the bed she let me use. "Damn it! Why me?!" I yelled, no doubt annoying the neighbors. "And where are they?!" I questioned Mei's whereabouts._

"_They'll be joining you soon," a voice came from the window, and when I looked, I just barely saw the image of a hand._

_I burst up. "Where am I?" I demanded._

"_Quiet," a calm voice said. "You are safe here; the Earth Queen simply requires your assistance."_

"_My assistance?" I wondered. "You mean my airbending?"_

"_That's correct."_

"_How'd you know I can airbend? And why should I help that no-good Queen?"_

"_You will serve your Queen because you are a loyal Earth Kingdom citizen, and as for how we know of your abilities, your friends gave us all the information we needed, after a little…persuasion," he motioned to three chained up figures with bags over their heads. When the bags were removed, I saw Mei and her brothers. Her brothers were already dead, by Mei was smiling, grinning madly, giggling to herself._

"_Mei!" I ran over to her, hugging her tightly. "Oh thank goodness you're okay, you…"I trailed off as she didn't acknowledge me, only staring straight ahead, twitching every now and then, and giggling. "Mei…" I held my hand up to her face, tears beginning to roll down my face. "Please, Mei, please look at me…"_

_A set of hands grabbed my shoulders. "Right; time to get to work," he began pulling me away. I forced him off and held onto Mei._

"_No! Get away! Mei, please! Please, Mei, don't…just…sing for me one more time…please…" I sobbed as I soon let the guards drag me off to…who knows where…_

I woke up in a warm sweat, as if I had been working extremely hard, though I was only lying in bed. I heard an incredible voice, with just the right twinge of vibrato without it being obnoxious, though it wasn't a song I had ever heard Mei sing.

Then the pain hit me. I groaned, making the voice stop, as I tried to sit up, soon failing to do so and laying back down. I felt a cold rag be placed on my forehead. "Come on, partner, don't work yourself too hard now," a familiar voice filled my ears as I opened my eyes.

"Kanon," her name escaped my lips, like a raindrop on my hand.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up, Yuuto."

"No, just…please, keep singing…it helps…"

With a warm smile, she continued, while playing a little card game with herself on the table, and I sat there smiling as well, enjoying the peace and quiet.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys; sorry about the later update, but I just couldn't get around to uploading this before I went off to class. Anyway, this finally gives a backstory to Yuuto, so I hope you enjoyed finally having that.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you all review and look forward to the next chapter!**


	18. 18 Plans

Everything was quiet…peaceful serenity. I wished that it would last forever. I heard of no attacks, just updates on the rebuilding process.

I tried to stand up, only to be pushed back down by my partner. "Yuuto, I told you; if you need anything just ask, okay?" she asked much like a mother would to a sick child.

"A working set of legs would be great," I offered.

"Well, I can't give you that," she replied.

"But you said 'anything'!" I complained, only to get a light hit on my shoulder and two chuckles from both of us. "Actually, some water would be nice," She nodded and left to get a glass, leaving Iroh to watch me. "You know, don't need a babysitter."

"Fire Lord Izumi refuses to be responsible for the death of the Avatar's betrothed…" he moaned, not liking it any more than I did.

"What? No, we're not engaged or anything," I assured him. "I'm just…never mind; you wouldn't understand."

"I probably wouldn't," he admitted, flipping the page of the book her was reading. "You feeling any better, by the way?"

"Yeah, actually; I can talk now for one."

These past few days have been horrid. At first I just thought that this is what Korra must've felt like. When I confronted Lord Zuko about it, he said that Avatar Aang and he were similar in many ways like Korra and I were. He said "Maybe you were fated by whatever watches over us to have this pain inflicted upon you, so that you may help others overcome it."

I didn't understand at the time.

Still, most of my time was spent thinking of ways to take out the three prominent members of the Red Lotus in the Fire Nation, specifically Sakeme.

"He's too powerful for just one of us to take out," I concluded. "He can attack too rapidly and too powerfully, not to mention none of us are used to fighting an Avatar-like opponent," The blackness of mediation clouded my vision. In other words, I was talking to Wan. "If only I had more power…"

"Well you can do that soundbending  
thing now, right?"

"Yeah, if I want to kill my throat for a week."

"I think it's a small price to pay," he smirked.

"You started out as a firebender, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, could you lend me it?"

"No way; that could kill you, and then who would I have to share stories with me?"

"But you can?"

"I mean…I've never tried, but…"

"Man, don't you love it when you don't know the extent of what you can do?" I half-mocked. "You wanna try it?"

"Not particularly. I know I can do it; Raava said we could if we trusted you airbenders enough, but…I seriously don't think it's a good idea. Listen, just…try to beat the guy without it, but if you're gonna die…call me."

I shook hands. "I'm gonna hold you to that," I said as his image faded out.

I exited my meditation and fell back onto my bed; I had been floating slightly above it.

"Alright, I have an idea," I proclaimed, getting the others' attention. "I have a plan to take out the Red Lotus' army, but it's going to need a little support."

"What do you have in mind?" Kanon asked.

"We'll need Ling's help; he has the best crowd-control of all of us."

"Tch, that traitor…he's staying in prison from betraying the Fire Lord," Iroh said stubbornly.

"Listen, he was only helping the Red Lotus because they're holding his sister as a hostage," Iroh raised his eyebrows. "We need to get her back, and then he can fight for us again."

"You're sure we can trust him?"

"I swear on my airbending that he'll be trustworthy."

"Alright, what's your plan then?

"I'm going to have the Red Lotus attack the palace again."

The two eyed me cautiously before turning to each other and then back to me. "Listen, Yuuto, I think you need to lie down again," Iroh said.

"No, listen. Gather all of your soldiers here, in the palace, and hide them. I'm going to take down Sakeme. Ling and your army can take down the soldiers, and the rest of you guys can handle any mecha suits as well as the inventor."

"Mechanic," Kanon corrected. "And what makes you think the enemy will fall exactly into place?"

"Well, I…haven't quite figured that out yet."

"Well, we could always just try and provoke an attack."

"Actually, Ling's sister's break out would probably serve that purpose."

"That may get them to come here, but it still won't get them in the right positions," Iroh reminded me.

"Must you always be so critical of my ideas?" I questioned. "In order to get the positions, you only need to stay up on the roof and I'll get you your positions. Alright?"

Iron held his hands up in surrender. "It's called being careful," he retorted.

"Will you be able enough to do it?" Kanon inquired.

I scratched the back on my head in embarrassment. "Actually, I'm not quite sure," I answered with a various laugh. "But I'll be damned if I'll be the one to ruin the plan," I said in a more serious manner. "If only I had some of Katara's spirit water, then I'd be better in no time."

"Well you don't have any, so you're going to have to get over it," Iroh said. "That said, if there's anything we can do to speed up the process that would be fantastic."

I turned to Kanon and smirked. "I can certainly see why he's in the military," I remarked, to which Kanon giggled. "Speaking of, why are you even here? Aren't you with the United Republic Navy or something?"

"Yes, I am in the United Republic Military, however took a leave of absence to assist our mother against the Red Lotus. Unfortunately, President Reiko refused to aid us. Actually, I faced a similar problem a few years back she the Northern and Southern Water Tribes had their falling out."

"A falling out? When did this happen?"

"A few years back, a month or two before new airbenders started showing up. It was all over the news, I can't believe you didn't hear about it, especially if you and Korra are together."

"No, she was too busy trying to recover all that time. I guess I just thought the Northern and Southern Tribes were always separate. Ba Sing Se was a pretty sheltered place, if you know what I mean."

"You know, what news Kyoshi Island got about what happened was pretty vague. You mind explaining what happened to the Avatar?" Kanon asked.

I looked down, my eyes glazing over in remembrance. "Well, I don't know how it started, but after I got airbending, the Dai Li captured me and started to train me and every other new airbender in the city for some kind of secret service for the Earth Queen. Korra and the rest of Team Avatar broke UA all out, and after I saved her from falling into their hands, they let me come with them. We went to Zaofu, where a group of people tried to kidnap her; we stopped them and went after them to give them due punishment. But...things didn't work out. Zaheer, the main guy, took Korra and poisoned her and were going to kill her."

"But you and Team Avatar beat them, right?"

"Yeah, but...the poison really hurt Korra and I pledged my life to her, and got flight for doing so. Ever since then, I've been with her, helping her cope. It...pained me so much to see her in so much agony."

"That sounds awful," Kanon agreed.

I nodded. "It was a rough ride," I concluded. An awkward silence fell. I took a deep breath, the disturbing silence asphyxiating me. "Well, if we're on the topic off sharing things, how come you were a unaffected by the Red Lotus' lightning torture?" I questioned.

"I redirected it," Kanon replied nonchalantly. "It was pretty easy: I just act like I'm in a lot of pain, when in reality, I'm just acting. I'm apparently pretty good at it. Anyway, enough dilly dallying. Iroh, can you go get Ling and bring him in here so we can get the information we need from him."

As Iroh left, I looked at her, confused. "What information?"

"How about where his sister is?" She said as if it was obvious, which it probably was. Soon Iroh returned, with the traitor in tow.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" The disheveled man questioned. "I was napping."

"Ling, we've come up with a plan and we need your help. We'll need you to help take out the Red Lotus' army."

Ling yawned, bored already with the conversation. "Yeah, um, count me out on this one. If I betray them, some real nasty shit is gonna happen to me."

"Oh yes, trust; we know," Kanon offered. "And we want to help you get your sister back."

"No way! if they catch you, then they'll kill her for sure!"

"They might just do that anyway," Iroh reminded him.

"I can't take that risk."

I frowned, and airbent him toward me, placing my thumbs on the center of his forehead and chest. "I'm going to give you two options: 1: you can give us your sister's location and trust us to get her out safely, or 2: you can refuse, I can take your precious soundbending away, and we can spend months looking for her, giving them that much more time to give up on you and kill her anyway. Your choice."

He looked me straight in the eye. "...You wouldn't," he called my bluff. "Not to a fellow airbender."

"I did it to Zaheer; why should I feel bad about taking another terrorist's bending away so he can't hurt anyone with it?"

"..." He just stared at me, his face blank. "...The last time I saw her, she was in the same prison that they kept you two," he answered, letting me remove my thumbs and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Ling!" Kanon gave him a big hug, but he didn't return it. "I promise that we'll make it up to you!"

"Yeah, uh-huh...anyway, can I go back to sleep now?" He questioned before Iroh took him back.

Kanon then turned to me, giving me a hard glare. "Were you...actually going to take Ling's bending away?" She questioned. I shook my head. "Well, it certainly looked like you were. Your eyes were...cold...full of hate," she stated.

I nodded. It was probably the same look I had when I was about to kill Zaheer. "Well, I wasn't, and that's all there is to it," I stated. "Anyway, about the plan to get the girl, I want in."

"What? There's no way you're going anywhere right now; not in your condition."

"I don't need you making my decisions for me," I countered. "I'm going to help whether you like it or not."

"You know sometimes your sense of duty is really irritating," she replied while placing a hand on her forehead. "Can't you just give us a vantage point?"

"I can distract Sakeme. I can lead him to where we were held, where there isn't any light so he won't be able to see me." I offered. "You guys can take the rest if the job."

"What's he going on about?" Iroh inquired as he waltzed back into my room. Kanon explained my part of the operation. "And you're sure you can handle it?"

"Positive," I answered.

The door then opened. "Excuse the interruption," Izumi popped in. "But I need to speak to Yuuto privately for a moment."

Kanon looked to me for approval, and I nodded in response. The two siblings exited the room and closed the door. "Yes? What is it? Any important news on the Red Lotus?"

"No, nothing."

"Then what did you need?" I asked as I picked up my water and took a sip.

"I'm sick of beating around the bush. I need your help; I need you to get through to Kanon."

I nearly spit out my drink, but I held it in and swallowed. "You what? Hey, listen, I care about her too, but this is your-"

"Listen for a moment. I may be busy and a bit strict about my position, but I'm still her mother and I haven't been able to get her to acknowledge me for the six months that she's been here. You, on the other hand, can talk to her easily. I need you to say something, anything, to help her ease back into the-"

"She's not coming back," I interrupted. "In case you couldn't tell, she's made it abundantly clear that once this is over, she's going back to Kyoshi Island. Even if you two reconcile, I doubt that she'll stay. She has a life there that she's content with; you don't have the right to take that away from her, even if you are the Fire Lord."

Izumi sighed. "You're right, but still want to be on good terms with her. My request still stands."

"Listen, if you really want to get through to her, you need to talk to her directly."

"I've tried," she reminded me, to which I shook my head.

"You've only reminded her of your past failings; you need to apologize, whether you think so or not. I've known Kanon long enough to know that she's stubborn."

"Apologize? I have nothing to apologize for!" she argued.

"From your position, no, you don't, but from hers, you definitely have a lot to own up to. Now, I'm not exactly sure what went on between you two in the past, but from you she's told me, it seems like-"

"Stop. Don't go any farther. I don't need you intruding."  
"But...that's kinda what you just asked me to do," I reminded her. "Anyway, just...try it my way and if she still doesn't respond then I'll talk to her. Would that be okay, Fire Lord Izumi?" I asked as kindly as I could.

"I...I'll give it a try. Thank you, Master Yuuto," she said before she took her leave.

"No, but I'm not a-" she was already gone.


	19. 19 Nightmares

"Alright, the base is laid out in a circle with several rooms branching out," Iroh explained. "We'll have several soldiers stationed at each entrance in hiding. When the time comes, everyone will strike simultaneously."

"What about Sakeme?" I questioned. "Or Kaito or Souta?"

"We'll we scouting those out in the coming days while everyone is getting prepared," he explained. "While we all build our strength for the battle. Alright, is everyone good on the plan?"

We all nodded and then took our leave.

The past few weeks have been...quiet. A lot of nothing has happened, and by that I mean I've been focusing will of my attention on recovering so that I can be semi-useful in the battle. Sometimes I wished that these days would last forever, if for nothing else than to always have something to look forward to in seeing Korra again.

Anyway, in terms of health, I've been recovering well. I can walk, I can fight relatively well, and I've been getting the hang of soundbending more. Turns out that screaming isn't necessary at all, simply exhaling forcefully enough will produce the desired effect, though I've noticed that it isn't as powerful as if I were to scream.

After the meeting, I took Naga out for a ride to have some time alone, bringing a bag with a couple things to keep us occupied. There were hills not too far from the palace, and I just went out there and we both laid down. Naga whined a little. "I know girl, I miss her too..." She whined again. I sighed and closed my eyes as a gentle breeze rolling in, letting me drift off into sleep.

I woke up an hour later in a sweat. I burst up, panting. It was Naga's nuzzling under my arm that brought me back to reality. I tried to remember what calmed me down before; Kanon's singing. I tried to recreate the pitches and whatnot in an attempt to keep my mind away from the darker places that I had fallen into in sleep.

"You know, you're not bad yourself," the girl's voice filled my ears and made me jump as she hopped onto Naga's back and scratched her neck.

I turned back to her and glared. "Please don't do that; I'm stressed out enough here."

"You could always sit this one out," she offered. I continued frowning as I reached into the bag I brought and got out Naga's ball, throwing it soon after, causing the polar bear-dog to bound after it with Kanon on her back. I began chuckling at Kanon's plight as her hair was disheveled when Naga returned. I patted her head.

"Good girl. You wanna go again?" I questioned, though it was more so a message to the girl on top of her.

"You know, sometimes, you're really obnoxious," the girl stated as she hopped off the polar bear-dog and sat next to me as I threw the ball again. "So...why are you so stressed? It's not like you're doing this by yourself."

I sighed. "It's just...what if I lose? What if I fail everyone?"

"I never thought that you considered failure. You're always so confident. I'm kind of jealous," she stated. "Still, even if you do, we'll be there to get you out of whatever you get yourself into."

"But they might hurt you guys. I know I'm still not a hundred percent and even when I am I don't know if I can handle whatever they have in store for us."

"You're acting like you're doing this all by yourself again. Just relax; we'll be there to get you out of anything that you get yourself into," she assured me. I didn't respond, just turned back toward the palace and the horizon beyond it. "And that certainly doesn't explain all of the nightmares you've been having."

"I don't want to talk about them."

"Why not? I have a right to know what's troubling you, don't I? So I can help you?" She questioned, crawling into my view.

"...I said that I don't want to talk about it."

Kanon glared. "If you don't talk soon, I'm going to shove lightning bolt up your-"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright, fine... But doing say I didn't warn you."

"Are they about Korra?" She inquired.

"They were at first, but-"

"If not about her, then what?"

"If you would let me talk!" I snapped. She remained silent. "Ever since Ling brought up my past...it's like I'm being forced to relive those memories again and again and, honestly, it's a time I would rather forget…they're about another girl I used to like."

"Oh? A little heartbreak?"

"Do you honestly think that?"

"Not at all, continue," she said, urging me onward.

"So, back before I could airbend, I was friends with this girl named Mei, and we were in love. I eventually learned how to airbend, and then…well, I don't know if you know this, but the Earth Queen kidnapped all the airbenders in the city and was going to use them as a secret army. Anyway, to get to me, the Dai Li, the Earth Queen's secret police of sorts, kidnapped Mei and tortured her to…do something. The nightmare is about my last few days with her, and it always ends with me being taken away," I looked down, my eyes getting a bit moist.

"I'm…sorry…"

"It wasn't your-" I stopped, trying to steady my voice. "It wasn't your fault; it was mine," I replied as I stood. "Anyway…let's not dwell on it."

"If you say so, but if you ever need anything…just…know I'm here," she said as she patted my back and ran off. Naga came up to my side, and I rested my hand on her head, rubbing it a little.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my face with my free hand. "Well, girl, I think it's time we head back. What do ya say?" I asked as I hopped onto her back and rode back to the palace.

I hopped off and began walking Naga into the courtyard again, but I stopped and pulled her behind a wall as I saw two familiar faces. "Kanon!" Izumi called out as she tried to catch up with her daughter. "Wait, please!"

"Come on, Kanon…" I whispered, though she couldn't hear me. Soon, she actually stopped walking, surprisingly, and turned to face her mother.

"What do you? Are you gonna send me to my room like you used to for running off without permission?" she questioned in an overly accusatory tone.

"Please, if you would just listen…" she urged, only harboring silence, allowing her to continue. "Listen, I'm…sorry for how I treated you before. I was too harsh and controlling."

"You're damn right," Kanon interrupted. "You barely let me have a childhood," she stated.

"I realize that, but I want to make it up to you, somehow. Just let me know and you can have anything you want; promise."

Kanon looked about to respond, but stopped and thought about it for a second. "Do you want to know what I really want?"

"More than anything."

"I want you…to stay out of my life…forever…" Kanon trailed off, her voice catching in her throat. She took a deep breath. "You've been nothing but a burden in the back of my head ever since I was born, never allowing me to truly escape you or this life that I resent…"

Izumi didn't say anything, just stared Kanon down, waiting for her to finish, but she never did, just walked away, coincidentally towards where I was hiding. As she walked past, I was leaning on Naga. "Harsh," I commented.

She jumped at my voice, turning to me and giving an embarrassed smile. "You heard that?"

"Every word," I confirmed. "You sure that was the right move? I mean, she seemed pretty sincere."

"Yeah right; she's used that on me before, and every time it turns out the same. I would forgive her and she would put more regulations on me."

"Even still…"

"Listen, Yuuto, I know you want to help me like I want to help you, but this is a problem between just the two of us and I'd prefer it to stay that way. Can you respect that?"

I sighed and nodded. "I understand. Alright, well, I'm off to bed," I said in a bored manner before turning the direction of the beds. I stayed there for a couple minutes, until I thought I heard Kanon go to her own room, and then I slipped out once again.

I entered the war room, where I found Izumi relentlessly shooting fireballs at the Fire Nation banner hanging above the throne. I watched for a moment before clearing my thought. That didn't get her attention, so I blasted the banner with air. She whirled around and shot a potent stream of flames at me, but I managed to diffuse them relatively harmlessly.

She then saw that it was me and not an enemy and straightened her hair to how it was normally, a formal look. "Ahem, erm…excuse me," she said as she started to walk past me.

"Actually," I began, stopping her. "I heard you and Kanon earlier, and-"

"Please, Master Yuuto, stop right there. Now, I realize that I was wrong to go to an outside intruder when it comes to these things. I do not need your assistance any longer in that area. Go get some rest for the coming battle."

Neither of us said another word as she left, leaving me alone in a room that smelled of smoke.


	20. 20 Rescue

The plan was soon set into motion. I'd spent days memorizing the layout of the base; we needed this to work. This had to succeed or our entire game plan would have to change.

Kanon put her hand on my shoulder, and I nodded to her. "Is everyone ready?" Iroh questioned quietly. We all nodded. "Alright, break!"

We all leapt down into the opening and took out the surrounding guards without attracting attention. We then all broke off to do our separate duties.

Kanon and I made a full loop around the circle base to scout where the leaders were; only two of them were here, Kaito and Sakeme. "I'll handle the waterbender," Kanon said as she stopped at where she was and leapt up into a crevice so as not to be seen. I continued searching for Sakeme, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, where is he? I've past the room where he should've been three times!" I muttered to myself.

Suddenly the radio strapped to my belt began emitting loud noise that sounded like firebending. "Yuuto," I managed to make out. "Hurry!"

I took off flying as fast as I could. "Hurry, everyone go!" I yelled as the noise of the battle came. I soon caught up and saw Lord Zuko fighting a losing battle with Sakeme.

I propelled myself into the dual-bender and carried him far off, breaking through the wall and into the area where we were being held. "Tch, you again," he commented as he stood. "Haven't you learned to stay out of my way?"

"Sorry, but I'm too stubborn to pass up a good challenge!" I countered as I shot several blasts of air at him. He dodged all of them and let loose a stream of fire. I soundbent through the flames, forcing him to roll out of the way. He dug his fist into the ground and uppercutted several rocks at me, crying out as he did so.

I caught the rocks with air and shot them back at him, forcing him to earthbend once again, causing himself more pain. In response, his attacks became more frequent. I began circling him, trying, at every chance I got, to make him earthbend, hoping that he would eventually succumb to the pain.

After a fire blast, I managed to hide behind one of the crystals. He took a defensive stance. "You think that you can wear me down?" he questioned. "You're not very difficult to predict, Zephyr."

"I may have a few tricks up my sleeve yet," I said as I made a ball of air on the opposite side of the room and shot it at him. He attacked in the complete wrong direction.

"Tch, if you won't come out and fight me, then I guess I'll just bring this whole place down," he said as he began charging a gigantic fireball.

I then came out of hiding and unleashed a barrage of air at him and then soundbent at the ground to propel myself up followed by flying around his subsequent attacks.

Suddenly a rock wall blocked off my path, forcing me to stop and allowing Sakeme to shoot me out of the air with a fire blast.

As I got up, he continued battering me with fire, keeping me on the defensive. He then brought his fists to his chest, causing the ground to encase my ankles in earth. I was locked in place.

Sakeme took this chance to launch another offensive. "Damn it; can't last much longer…" I muttered as I made air shield after air shield, trying to fend the dual-bender off, but as he drew closer, it became harder to block or redirect them. I saw the attack that was going to do me in. "Damn it, I need fire!" I yelled, when suddenly my entire body shifted, metaphorically anyway.

I shot a powerful fist into the air and shot a stream of fire from it. I couldn't hold it for long through, as the pain it caused my arm was enormous. I broke the stream and blasted air at my ankles, breaking Sakeme's hold on me as he looked on in shock. "How did you-"

"Gods, I know what you mean about the pain thing now!" I exclaimed as I held my arm, with both of us quickly recovering and getting into separate stances.

The battle was on once again as we both shot earth, fire, and air at each other, though he was much more proficient with the fire than I was. I was limited to shooting short bursts; nothing fancy like other firebenders could do.

After another fire stream, my arm began to give out. "Damn, this isn't working," I said. "I can't keep it up like he can."

"Damn straight you can't!" he yelled as he charged me, getting up into my face with a headbutt, knocking me back, followed by a sweeping kick to knock me off my feet.

He then jumped up and made a blazing arc down onto me. I managed to block the fire, but the impact smashed me into the ground further. I quickly got up, but soon dropped to my knees from dizziness.

"Is this the 'trick' you had?" he questioned. "You don't even know how to use it properly."

I gave an embarrassed smile. "Well, uh…this is kinda the first time I'm using it."

Sakeme cracked a smile, a genuine one. "Funny, I thought you wouldn't have the guts to face me again," he said as I stood. "I find myself enjoying this; though it would me more so if I didn't have to…" he trailed off.

"Well, don't let me slow you down."

He waved me off. "Please; you couldn't if you tried."

I frowned and dashed toward him, now rejuvenated from the brief rest. I shot air and fire at him and wave after wave, trying to break through his defense, but it just…didn't work.

He had grown used to how I fought and had developed strategies that could trump me. Well, that's what I would say if I were getting absolutely no hits on him, but the occasional melee attack certainly caught him off guard.

I pushed him out into the hall, revealing a massive battle taking place. The distraction of the battle let Sakeme get the upper hand, forcing me into enemy soldiers and making me take them out before I could get back to fighting him; he was wearing me down.

Eventually I bumped into Iroh and Kanon, who were dealing with Kaito. "Hey, you wanna switch?"

"Why bother? We got what we came here for," Iroh explained. "Lord Zuko has already gotten Ling's sister out; we just need to-" he was interrupted by a soldier slamming into him from Sakeme's attack.

"We need to pull back!" I yelled over the chaos, getting the message across to the soldiers. I began flying around, yelling to pull back.

Soon, everyone was in open air, and at the entrance, to get us some distance, Kanon and Iroh shot a continuous stream of lighting at the entrance to keep the soldiers at bay. Once they were done, we all hopped on Naga and retreated along with the rest of the soldiers.

Once everyone was a safe distance away, we stopped running. "Where's Ling's sister?" I questioned. I had to make sure that she was okay. One soldier pointed me in the direction of a crying girl. I approached and saw that the girl was only about five or six years old. "Hey there," I started soothingly.

She slowly stopped screaming and looked at me with eyes filled to the brim with fright. "W…who-re you?"

"My name is Yuuto; I'm Ling's friend."

"Where's my big brother? I want to see my big brother!"

"I know you do, we're taking you to him right now. He was so worried about you that he sent us to get you," I lied. "Now let's go see him, together."

She nodded slowly, still slightly hesitant, and we soon returned to the palace.

We immediately went to the prison block and to Ling. I cleared my throat to get his attention, and then urged his sister forward.

"Xiang!" he cried, reaching through the bars and hugging her. "You're okay!"

"See, this is what happens when you trust people," I commented as I opened the cell door, leaving the two to catch up.

I met with Izumi and Iroh on the way out. "Yuuto, do you want to come and discuss a plan?" she questioned. I shook my head.

"No thanks. I need to…think things over," I said as I turned away. I soon left them to a nice open courtyard near a pond, and I began to meditate.

Soon, Wan floated in front of me. "Is something wrong? What, exactly, did you need to think over?"

"I want to beat Sakeme," I said bluntly, crossing my arms. "But I can't right now."

"You will," he assured me. "You just need a few more chances."

"I don't have a few chances. When the Red Lotus attacks, they're going to send everything they've got, presumably. If we don't beat them, then the Fire Nation is lost," I smacked the side of my head. "That's the problem with this plan; it's a double-edged sword, a high-risk, high-return strategy was the stupidest thing I could've suggested. And they actually agreed to it!"

"Hey, come on; where'd this come from?" Wan questioned. "Listen, man, you need to relax. We just need to think this through; what is Sakeme's weakness?"

"He…he can't earthbend without hurting himself," I answered. "But I've tried wearing him down and it didn't work."

"Well, you could always try a solar eclipse."

I frowned, unamused. "I can't exactly just make a solar eclipse," I stated.

"Well, maybe you could appeal to his softer side, or tell him that you can take away his bending."

"Something tells me…never mind. Besides, I want to beat him in a fair fight, but I can't possibly keep up with him with only one element. If only I could…give myself another…" an idea quickly formed in my head.

"What? What is it?" Wan questioned.

"That's it!" I cried as I grinned. "Thank you, Wan! You've been a great help!" I said as I went back into the real world.

I burst up and jumped into the air, screaming in triumph before I even went through with my plan. Kanon and Iroh came running into the courtyard to check on me. "Injury?" Iroh inquired but I shook my head.

"Unless you count a brilliant idea as an injury," I said as I began to calm down. "Watch and observe."

I placed my thumbs on my chest and focused. I needed to concentrate and find my center, soon visualizing a small flame. Suddenly, as I opened my eyes, a light blue glow emitted itself from my eyes and mouth, and I could…I don't know, feel my own energy and its inner workings.

The feeling was different then when I used this on Zaheer, but the overall concept was the same, just in reverse.

I soon felt my energy shift dramatically, and only when I felt it stop shifting did I release the hold I had on myself. I dropped to my knees, now woozy. "What…did you just do?" Kanon questioned.

"Was that…energybending?" Iroh questioned.

"You know what that was?"

"Yeah, I saw Avatar Korra use it a couple of times to give peoples' bending back, but I've never seen it used on the person using it."

I grinned with sudden passion burning within me. I stood and shot a powerful fist into the air, and a large stream of fire erupted from it. The two looked on in shock.

I did some more trick, including a couple blazing arcs and even a little breath of fire. I waited for their response. "So…you're a firebender now?" Iroh questioned.

"Guess so," I said before placing my thumbs on my chest once again and, within a second or two, reversed the process. I then shot out several air blasts to make sure. "And now I'm an airbender again."

"How?"

"Well, see, I don't know if you guys know this, but the spirit of Avatar Wan is inside me; that's how I became an airbender. He was originally a firebender and he allowed me to bend fire as well as air during Sakeme's and I's last battle, but because I'm not the Avatar, it cased immense pain for me. So then I thought about 'what if I could change the element I can bend' and then I realized that the lion turtles do that, and one of them gave me their gift of energybending as one of them did Avatar Aang, who later passed it onto Korra. A little fiddling around with my energy and voila: instant firebender!"

I continued practicing firebending, getting into more and more advanced techniques, probably too quickly as I lost control and set the place on fire, but that's _totally_ beside the point.

"Alright, a couple more days, and then we'll knock that dual-bender right on his ass," I concluded, ready for the coming final battle.

**Author's Note:**

**I'm just going to say this now. This is the second-to-last chapter of this arc. After the finale of this arc, I'm going to go on another hiatus, a shorter one thankfully, just so I can get another backlog of chapters in case, for some reason, can't use Word. So yeah, I'll let you guys know next time when I'm going to return, but until then...**

**I hope you all enjoyed reading and are looking forward to the finale of arc number two! Don't for get to R&amp;R and I'll see you guys...later, i guess. Bye!**


	21. 21 Rising Sun

Over the days that I've pretty much had to myself, I've been able to reduce the time needed to change elements to a fraction of a second, basically anyway. Iroh also commented that I was a natural with firebending, which certainly helped me prepare. One disadvantage to changing elements, that I've found, is that since flying was an airbending ability, I couldn't fly while using firebending.

Over the past few days as well, at least fifty soldiers were stationed on the roofs and five at each entrance to warn of attacks, and we were all basically ready at all times, so when the time finally came, we were prepared.

They attacked during the night, the end of the night to be exact, trying to take us by surprise.

Just as expected, they had sent everything they had, or close to it: a couple hundred mechas, even more regular benders and of course the three big bads.

After a couple moments of scouting from above, I found that Sakeme and Souta, along with their mechas, broke off to attack from behind. I landed and told the group the game plan. "Alright, Iroh, Ling, and Lord Zuko will go to the front, along with most of the soldiers, to fend Kaito and the foot soldiers off. The rest of us, and the soldiers on the roof, with head toward the back, Souta and Sakeme are going to attack from behind. I'll go on ahead and try to slow the latter down. Hopefully, he won't get past me," I said. "Is everyone ready?" They all nodded. "Alright, break."

We all moved to our positions. I flew on ahead to meet the mechas and Sakeme. He held his hand up. Neither of us said anything for a moment. "This is it, isn't it?" he asked.

"If not, then I don't know what is," I agreed. "Just you and me," I offered.

"What about the rest of them?"

"I couldn't care less."

"…Fine," he said, waving them ahead. I assumed a stance as the mechas moved past me. Once all of them were past me, I dashed forward. As I did, Sakeme brought up a rock wall in front of him and thrust it toward me. I vaulted over it and let loose a downward kick imbued with air, beginning our battle.

* * *

Kanon and the soldiers on the roof looked out into the distance and soon saw hundreds of mechas approaching. Izumi pointed. "There, attack!" she said as she launched an initial assault, shooting several lighting blots, taking down one at a time. The others soon joined in, Kanon included, taking out a large chunk of the mechas before they made it to the palace.

As they drew near, Izumi and several others jumped down to keep the mechas at bay with fire while the lightningbenders continued picking off mechas still coming in.

* * *

With Ling, he sat waiting for the army to come to him. The two forces stood facing each other. Kaito and Ling stood looking at each other in disgust; Ling for using his sister as a hostage and Kaito for betraying the Red Lotus.

"Maybe…in another life…we could've fought side by side, not facing each other," Kaito offered, her voice lined with sincerity. "Your kind of diversity could've been useful."

"Sorry, but I'm a material guy; I deal with reality, not what ifs," Ling countered.

Zuko shot the first attack. "Attack!" he called to the others, who soon began a barrage of flames at the enemy, including his dragon and even Naga. Ling just stood there, taking several deep breaths, preparing himself for Kaito.

The waterbender was busy blocking Zuko's barrage as the two seemed relatively equal in terms of prowess, though Zuko was also dealing with other Red Lotus members as well.

Zuko then took a glance at Ling, who was planting his feet into the ground. "Get back!" he yelled over the chaos, and the Fire Nation army tore back, the Red Lotus soon following. As soon as the Fire Army was behind Ling, he let out the most powerful scream ever, sending a wide arcing wall of pure sound outward from his mouth, pushing all but Kaito back, and even then, it nearly completely evaporated her water barrier.

As Kaito recovered, Ling smirked. "Leave the waterbender to me," he told Zuko. Kaito glared and readied herself as the Fire Army charged forward to handle the rest of the army.

* * *

Sakeme swept me off my feet and attempted to pummel me with earth, but I back roll-kicked (if that makes sense) with air to push him away as I roundhouse kicked another blast towards him.

He put up another rock wall and propelled it forward with fire, sending a few more blasts along with it. I broke apart the wall and blocked many of the blasts, but the last one got me off guard. Sakeme took his chance and launched an offensive, propelling himself into me with fire and then flipping me over his head, shooting me with a couple more bursts.

I dodged the attacks and landed with a sweeping wave of air to trip him up, followed by…something. I don't know what, because Sakeme got to me before I could pull it off, once again getting up into my face. I had to back handspring out of the way of several fire blasts, and as one surprised me, I shot air towards it, propelling myself into the air using the force. I stayed there for a moment, catching my breath, soon landing and waiting for Sakeme to attack.

"Is this all you have to offer?" he questioned. "Where'd your fire go?"

I smirked. "Oh, you want fire?" I asked, pressing my thumbs to my chest and changing to fire bending, dashing toward the man and sweeping an arc towards him, followed by a powerful set of blasts from my fists. "How's that for ya?"

"Uncontrolled!" Sakeme responded, sending out his own blasts, surpassing mine in intensity. I managed to diffuse them for a while, but soon had to go on the defensive. Both of us sent shot after shot of flames, until we both let out a fire stream of great power, the two blasts colliding with each other. "And how is it possible for you to firebend without experiencing my pain?"

"I would tell you, but that would spoil the surprise!" I said as I broke off my stream and propelled myself above Sakeme's and landed with a strong blast behind me. I rolled forward to stop my momentum sending a couple more blasts as I did before changing back to airbending and circling Sakeme.

As I did, he retaliated quickly, pushing me back with wave after wave of rock and flames. He soon got the upper hand again, pushing me back a lot of the time. I changed back to firebending and exchanged shots with him, using evasive maneuvers akin to an airbending style, ready to continue the battle.

* * *

"Would you stupid Fire Freaks just give up already?!" Souta demanded as he, from his more advanced mecha, managed to knock the roof-bound soldiers and Kanon from their perch. Now, in the large courtyard, it was an all-out war. Iroh had left the frontlines to come and help his family and provided much needed support to the mother and daughter. The three made a good team, blasting many mechas out of commission, but there were simply too many. The three were pushed back to a previous courtyard, closer to the heart of the palace.

Kanon could even hear the sounds of Ling and Zuko's battle. "This isn't good. We need to push them back!" she called to the others. As she charged forward, she got reckless and a couple of mechas started to gang up on her. Iroh was busy dealing with his own batch, and Kanon was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Suddenly, Souta's mecha came from behind her and raised an arm from pound her into the ground. "Get away from her!" Izumi yelled, spontaneously filled with life as she roared into the crowd and launched several powerful blasts of fire to make distance from the mechas and then grabbing Kanon and leaping out. She was soon pushed away by her daughter.

"What's your problem?!" she demanded of her mother. Izumi looked about to respond when Souta recovered and rallied his men, soon pushing the three back once again. They ducked the wall to the courtyard and fended them off with fire blasts.

"Kanon! I don't know what you want from me!" Izumi yelled, grabbing her daughter's shoulders. "Every time I try and make amends, you push me away, like you want to stay in this constant battle with me!"

"Well maybe I do! I've finally found a place where I feel like I belong and then I get dragged back here!"

"You chose to come back," Izumi reminded.

"Well, I didn't…"

"Look, I don't care if you come back anymore," Izumi said. "I don't care if you go back to your new life, but I don't want the last words we say to each other to be ones of conflict. Is that so much to ask?"

"I…"

"Now, if you don't mind, we need to finish off these heathens. We need to combine our strengths."

"Like you mean…" Iroh started.

Kanon grinned. "A lot of lightning to make their mechs useless; now you're speaking my language."

The three seemed to come to a silent understanding. Iroh and Izumi made a wall of flames in the courtyard entrance while Kanon jumped to the center of it and began charging her attack, Izumi and Iroh soon joining her.

Then, in one fluid motion, the three joined fingertips and let loose a wide arc of lightning that spread across the entire courtyard and even outside of it. Bright sparks and lights erupted from every single one of the mechas and soon they were down for the count.

* * *

Kaito and Ling exchanged blows for only a moment before things got up close and personal. Neither of them was entirely experienced with close-range combat, so it was more of a street brawl than anything. Soon, though, Kaito held Ling down onto the ground, but was quickly blasted off with sound.

"You're out of water," Ling stated. "Why try?"

"Because." She said as she wiped sweat from her forehead. "The more I try, the more water I get!" she countered as she separated the water from everything else in the sweat and slowly formed a water whip with it.

Ling didn't get a chance to fight her like that though, as Zuko interrupted them with a flame whip of his own, soon battling the waterbender, giving Ling time to rest slightly. "Ling!" he called. "You have to finish this!"

Ling nodded and began charging again, for an even more powerful blast. A sound wave so powerful that it could part an ocean. "Ready?" Zuko called, looking back, only to see the air around Ling distort itself from the contained pressure. "Whoa okay, you're ready…pull back! Back to the palace!"

The Fire Army once again retreated, several soldier staying just behind Ling to keep the Red Lotus at bay. Kaito seemed to accept the defeat, as she knew that she didn't have enough water to block the attack.

Ling let loose the attack, which was so powerful that it seemed akin to earthbending with how much of a shockwave was caused, complete decimating what little resistance the Red Lotus had left.

This part of the battle was over, which left only…

* * *

Neither of us was giving an inch of ground. Every time he attacked, I dodged or diffused the strike; while he put up rock walls to block mine, though I could tell this much earthbending was slowing him down. In the beginning, he was definitely faster than me, but now we were at least even, if not he was slower than I.

"What's wrong? You're not giving out on me, are you?" I questioned, sending a potent blast of air towards the man before propelling myself forward and into his face. I head-butted him and then sent him away with another roundhouse air sweep.

"In your dreams!"

In retaliation, he sent an earth line to try and trip me up, but I back handspringed past it and airbent at him, sending him further back.

I dashed forward again, launching yet another assault, this time completely breaking through his defenses. I saw one particular opening and leapt forward, flying at great speeds into Sakeme and flying upwards with him, stopping just below the clouds and letting him hang by his shirt.

"What the…get the hell off of me!" he yelled, but I refused to let go.

"Look," I saw, looking at the end of the night. "You said before that you don't care if they destroy the rising sun, but, looking at it now, admiring it in its glory…can you really say that?"

"Of course I…"

"…Well?" I questioned.

"...It doesn't matter anyway."

"Well, I tried to tell you this before, but you don't have to work for the Red Lotus anymore. I know a way to get rid of your earthbending."

"You-"

"Now, that's not to say that you won't have to live up to your crimes, attacking the Fire Lord is punishable by death…in most cases. I guess I'll plead for you to stay alive for a while."

I heard him chuckle. "I pegged you wrong; you're not a bad guy," he concluded.

"Thanks; you're a bit brooding if you ask me. Lighten up a little; it'll pay off," I said as I lowered us to the ground.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Great, so, do you wanna continue our fight or…"

"No; you would've won; I couldn't keep that up for much longer," he admitted. "Though, if it's possible, after all of this is over, I'd like to have a rematch; Agni Kai-style."

"Deal," I said before we both heard footsteps approach. Soon, Iroh, Kanon, and several battle-weary soldiers came into view, taking stances to fight Sakeme. I held my hand up. "No, wait; the fight's over."

"Then why isn't he unconscious, or-"

"You know, if I hadn't seen it myself, I'd think he was a killer too, but he's not," I put my hand on his shoulder. "Give me two days and I'll return him to face punishment."

"Two days to do what?" Iroh questioned.

"To get rid of his earthbending and make him a good guy, what else?" I said as I grabbed his shirt and flew up and eastward. We flew for a long while, about a day or so, until we reached the desert.

I landed and sat down, tired from flying while carrying someone for so long. "Well? How are you gonna rid me of earthbending?"

"Well, see, I got the ability to energybend from a lion turtle who lives in this desert, and if it senses me, it should come and then we can ask it to take the earthbending away."

"If it gave you the ability, then why don't you do it?"

"Depends, do you want an amateur bender or an expert to do it right?"

After a moment of silence, Sakeme sat along with me. Soon, we heard rumbling, and then the lion turtle rose from the sand. "_It is good to see you again, young airbender,"_ it greeted as I stood and bowed respectfully. "_I can tell you are becoming more adept at using the gift I gave you._"

"Yes, and thank you, but today I need your assistance once again. This is Sakeme and for some reason he is a firebender who can also earthbend, and it is as you and Avatar Wan said; it causes extreme pain when he does and he wishes to be rid of it. Could you please remove his earthbending while keeping his firebending intact?" I asked politely. Sakeme stood and bowed, but didn't say anything.

"_This man…do you believe that he is worthy to grant his wish?"_

"I do, great lion turtle of earth. I believe that he's suffered enough to circumstances that he can't control."

"…_Very well. Step forth,"_ the great beast ordered, and when Sakeme did so, it touched its claws on his head and chest, like it did me. A bright green light appeared, and lasted for what seemed like a couple of minutes, and when it disappeared, the lion turtle simply left without saying anything else, feeling its work was done.

Sakeme then smiled, saying thank you before we returned to the Fire Nation palace. We landed, and Iroh greeted us with a set of shackles for Sakeme. He held his hands out in surrender. "I'll face whatever punishment I deserve."

"Try not to kill him, alright?" I asked without waiting for a response. I soon found Kanon and Naga. Izumi was there too.

"…So, let's just…be family again. Is that okay?" Izumi questioned, her voice soft. "That's all I want, and I'll approve any decision you make."

"That's…what I've wanted for the longest time," Kanon exclaimed as she hugged her mother. I cleared my throat, signaling that I was there. "Is it…time to leave?"

"Well, I've got to get back to Korra at the Southern Water Tribe as soon as possible, so yeah, unless you want the Fire Nation Navy to escort you back."

Kanon waved her hands in front of her face. "No; I think that'll freak everyone out a bit too much. Goodbye, mom."

With that, we all made it back to the dock where we left the small boat, and with a little trouble we got the boat. After a few days, we made it back to Kyoshi Island, where i dropped Kanon off. I immediately depart for the Southern Water Tribe, and made it back, again, in a few days.

As soon as we landed, we got strange looks, looks of…sympathy? I wasn't really sure why.

Naga bounded off, with me on her back, toward Tonraq's home, and when we burst in, I yelled "We're home!"

Tonraq and Senna soon greeted us. "Welcome back!" Senna greeted, letting Naga lick a familiar face. "How was the Fire Nation?"

"Well, I met some…interesting people there," I explained. "Where's Korra?"

"Well, she…she left a few months ago."

I frowned as time seemed to stand still. "…What?"

"Now, don't worry. She's recovered quite a bit from when you left and she felt going back to Republic City for a while on her own was a good idea, and we thought so too. She's even sent us letters that she's met up with Tenzin on Air Temple Island once already."

"B-but…but what if she…" I jumped off of Naga. "I have to go," I said as I started to walk out.

"Yuuto, wait. We're going to Republic City to meet her in a few months. Maybe she needs her space."

"Or maybe she's just running from her problems. She did that for nearly two months before she tried to recover," I reminded them.

"Yuuto," Tonraq gave me a stern look, telling me to back off.

"Look, if she turns out to be fine, then I'll come back or leave her to have her space, but I can't risk having something happen to her," I said as I flew away, not waiting for a response.

As I flew, and started thinking aloud.

"How could she have been so stupid?" I questioned. "I feel…"

Betrayal.

"Never mind. I just need to find her and make sure that she's alright, because she was definitely not fine the last time I saw her," After a half a day or so, I landed on Air Temple Island. "Tenzin? Tenzin!" I called, trying to get the master's attention. He soon came out to greet me.

"Ah, Yuuto; it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Look, I know it's been a while, but I need you to tell me where Korra went when she came by here," I said, though I only got the arch of an eyebrow. "You know, Korra; the Avatar? She sent Tonraq a letter saying she came by; I need to know where she went so I can make sure that she's alright."

"Yuuto…I'm not quite sure if this is a practical joke, but Korra hasn't been on Air Temple Island since you two left three years ago. We all thought she was still at the Southern Water Tribe with you."

"Wait, so you mean…Korra is…"

Gone…

**Author's Note:**

**I'll make this quick; this is the end of the second arc and the third will start in about a week-ish. We'll say...well actually, let's just make it a week. It'll start back up on the April 27th, so don't miss it.**

**The Author's Note video on youtube will be coming in the following week, though because of illness and school, I might not have the time right away.**

**Anyway, thank you guys for reading and I hope you'll review and are looking forward to the next chapter!**


	22. 22 Catching Up

"History is written by the victors."

You've probably heard that phrase at some point, either in history class about the Fire Nation's original intentions for invading Earth Kingdom territory or perhaps in some of the many feuds such as between Avatar Kyoshi and General Chin. Whatever the case, there's a lot of truth to the words.

I learned them from a certain charismatic metalbender who attempted to return the Earth Kingdom to its former glory.

Whoa…didn't mean to get ahead of myself there; let's start where we left off, shall we?

* * *

Gone…Korra is gone…

The information really sank in in the first few minutes. As Tenzin asked if I was alright, I dropped to my knees. "How could I be such an idiot?!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, bashing my fist into my forehead. Tenzin walked up to me and kneeled down.

"Hey now; there's no need to berate yourself."

"But there is!" I countered. "Korra, the Avatar, is missing and _no one_ knows where she is. The Red Lotus could have her right now and be putting more poison into her system as we speak!"

"Yuuto, we took care of the Red Lotus three years-"

"Really? Because I _just_ got back from the Fire Nation where we dealt with more radical Red Lotus members who attempted to take hostage and murder the Fire Lord. Are you really going to tell me that there aren't people who would try and kill Korra still?"

Tenzin gave me a steely gaze before standing. "I'll go inform Lin and President Reiko. They'll relay the message to the other world leaders. If she's anywhere within their reach, then we'll find her. Until then, you should rest. You look exhausted," he said as he reentered the temple.

I raised my hand to my eyes; I could literally feel the bags under my eyes. As if on command, a yawn made its way out of my mouth.

As I was about to stand to heed Tenzin's advice, a speedboat pulled up to the dock and Asami came running up to meet him. "Tenzin, you won't believe what I just got…to…" she trailed off as she saw me and walked up to me.

Asami looked…older and more mature. She looked wonderful; while I'm sure I looked like a complete mess. I waved sheepishly. "Hey there, Asami; long time no see?"

"Yuuto, I didn't expect to see you here," she said as she walked up to me. I stood, though I quickly got a dizzy spell and accidentally fell into her. "Oh gods, are you alright?" she cried, helping me to stay standing.

I put my hand on her shoulder and used her to keep my balance and soon the dizziness faded. "Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?" I asked sarcastically.

"Don't be a smart-ass, Yuuto. You look terrible. Please, come with me to my mansion and we can rest you up."

"What about Tenzin?" I questioned.

"Oh, he can wait for a friend," And so she let me onto her speedboat and took me to her mansion. We grabbed a taxi in the city to get there. "So what were you doing on Air Temple Island? I thought you were in the Fire Nation."

"How do you know about that?" I questioned.

"Korra sent me a letter a couple months ago. She said you've been gone for almost a year."

"Yeah…wow, it _has _been that long, huh? Anyway, yeah, some more Red Lotus members tried to take out Fire Lord Izumi and I went in Korra's place. Good thing too; I don't know if she would've survived, at least in the condition that I last saw her in."

"What do you mean? Did you go back to the Southern Water Tribe after you finished up there?"

"Well yeah, but…Tonraq said that Korra left for Republic City months ago, and when I asked Tenzin where she was, he said that she hadn't come," as I continued, my voice grew deeper and more somber. "And judging from your questioning, I'd say Team Avatar hasn't seen her either."

"Oh, I see."

"Speaking of, what have you guys been up to?"

"Well, as I was about to tell Tenzin, President Reiko asked me to remodel the Central City Station, which is…huge for my company, Future Industries."

"Oh really? Good for you. What about Mako and Bolin, and what about the Earth Kingdom, did it ever recover after Zaheer killed the Earth Queen? And what about-"

"Whoa, whoa, one thing at a time," she stopped me while chuckling slightly. "I'll explain everything."

And so, on the way, Asami told me everything that she knew. The Earth Kingdom was being rebuilt and stabilized by Suyin's prodigy named Kuvira, and Bolin was in her army helping out there. She said that the last she checked, Mako was still working as a detective and was somewhere in the city.

"I see…maybe I'll go visit the police station and help find Korra later," Asami chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just a little funny how she's all you can think about."

"Well…it's just that I've been away from her for nearly a year and now I have no idea where she is. I'm just worried and I want to do my part to find her."

"Well, maybe you should leave this to the police," she offered as we pulled into her driveway and we got out. "I'm sure that she's fine and she just needed a little alone time where she could think things through. Maybe you could take this chance to worry about other things."

"Other things…like what?"

"I don't know; you're from Ba Sing Se, right? You could help Kuvira in stabilizing the Earth Kingdom. It'll leave Korra with one less thing to worry about when she gets back to being the Avatar. Or maybe you should just take a load off. I know when I get too stressed out, some relaxation would do me good."

"I think…I'll take the first option," I said as we walked in. She showed me to a guest bedroom, and I almost immediately crashed at the sight of a comfortable bed.

When I awoke the next day, I felt completely rejuvenated and ready to get a lot of work done. I ran down to meet with an exiting Asami, gave her a nice big hug and ran out after thanking her.

I leapt upward and flew all the way to the police station, quickly going in and making my way to Lin, slamming my palm down onto her desk. "I want to know where Mako is."

"And who's asking?" she said without hesitation. The sentence destroyed me.

"You've got to be kidding! It's me, Yuuto, remember? We beat Zaheer together three years ago?"

She looked me up and down. "Oh yeah; mister bodyguard. And where's your guard-ee?"

"Tenzin hasn't told you? Korra is missing. Tenzin wants your police force to look for her."

"And what have you been doing exactly while the Avatar has been off on her own?"

"Well, I…I uh, was…dong other stuff…"

"Right…anyway, if you want Mako, he's 'taking care' of Prince Wu, the next in line for the Earth Kingdom monarchy."

"Oh…"

"Go to the Four Elements Hotel in the city. They should be there."

I nodded and retreated back to the sky, soon finding the rather luxurious resort-type hotel, and when I asked for Mako, and later Prince Wu, I found that they were staying in the Presidential Suite.

When I approached the door, I found Mako waiting outside. He looked…actually pretty ridiculous; laughable really. He was wearing a buttoned-up suit with clicky-clacky shoes; that alone should be enough to convince you. Still, we greeted each other with open arms.

"Yuuto!" he exclaimed, holding his arms out. I was about to give him a (manly) hug, when the door behind him burst open, revealing a clearly Earth Kingdom-born teen who looked about as lanky as…well a wet noddle is the only thing I can think of.

"Alright, Mako, I'm finally ready to visit Little Ba Sing Se! Are you ready to-"

"Didn't you go yesterday, Prince Wu?" Mako said tiredly as he pushed Wu away.

"So this guy's a prince, huh?" I wondered aloud, leaning in close to examine him further. I already noticed one thing I didn't like; the sexy brow as I called it. You know, the constantly raised eyebrow that guys think will win over women.

"Um, Mako, who is this guy; he seems…unconnected from people I hang around," the teen said as he backed up and around me, going to the elevator. "Well, let's hurry up Mako; I don't want to be late for my massage at three."

Then he disappeared into the elevator. "…So that's gonna be the Earth King, huh?"

"Yeah…" Mako seemed to share my doubts. "Well, I'll just be glad when I can just be a detective again."

"Is Lin forcing you to do this?"

"I wouldn't do it for anyone else. Anyway, I can handle things here. You should go catch up with Bo. He's over in the Earth Kingdom somewhere helping with the reestablishment of order thing that's been going on there."

I nodded. "Alright; keep in touch," I said as I walked to the window.

"Hey, that's my line, mister 'not my Pen-Pal'," he joked, showing his brother's effect on him.

As we parted ways, I made my way southeast, towards the heart of the Earth Kingdom. What I expected to still be a wasteland of anarchy was actually a relatively calm, fertile land. When I asked around some of the villages dotted around, they simply pointed down the train tracks, indicating that Kuvira was using them to get from one place to another rather than using something like an airship.

So, with another couple hours of flying, I finally found her…and Bolin.

When I caught up with her, she was standing over several people held down by what looked like magnetized bonds onto the train tracks.

"…I'm going to give you all the opportunity to rehabilitate yourselves, and become productive members of your nation. Right now, you're lost, but pledge your loyalty to-"

"Hold it!" I called as I landed. "What's going on here?"

Kuvira stared at me for a moment, as if trying to identify me. "…You…look familiar…"

"And so do you," I concluded. "You're Kuvira, aren't you?"

**Author's Note:**

**Oh boy! Finally! I've been waiting to post this, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Don't forget to review and uh...sorry about never posting the video; I got sick as a dog literally two days after posting and I couldn't work on it until the weekend which was completely booked. So yeah...**

**Don't forget to review, again, and I hope you're all looking forward to one of the best villains this show had to offer; I know I am!**


	23. 23 Rocky Start

"You're Kuvira, aren't you?"

"I am. Now that you have mine, may I ask your name?"

"My name is Yuuto, though some know me as the Zephyr. Three years ago, I, along with the rest of Team Avatar, defeated Zaheer and his portion of the Red Lotus," I explained. "Now that introductions are out of the way, you never answered my question. What's going on here? Why are these people tied to the tracks?"

Kuvira kept a stiff upper lip in the face of me completely interrupting her. "…These people are bandits who tried to attack me. I wish to make them useful to the Earth Kingdom."

"So you threaten their lives?" I accused.

"Yes. People are fickle things, and in order to get them to do what's right, you often have to push them to the brink of death or desperation. I'm sure you understand."

The bad part was: I did understand. I was pushed to my emotional and psychological limit to achieve flight and save Korra three years ago.

"Please!" one woman cried. "Please have mer-" Kuvira metal bent a plate in front of her mouth to silence her.

I sighed. "And have they agreed yet?"

"I don't know, have they?" Kuvira looked over her prisoners.

She looked to what looked like the alpha-male. "We…we humbly ask to serve you…" he said in a defeated tone.

Kuvira smiled in victory, though it soon dissipated. "That is an excellent decision," she said as she released their bonds. The newly-made Earth Kingdom soldiers were horded onto the train. I approached Kuvira afterwards.

"I want to help you," I said bluntly.

"Oh? But you're an airbender, are you not?"

"Yes I am, but would you really pass up the opportunity to have another bringer of peace that you are so desperately trying to fill the Earth Kingdom with?"

Kuvira considered this. "Very well. You will be fitted for the uniform soon. And because you are a…special case, you'll join me and a few others personally in the head car, understood?"

"Right, got it," I replied as I turned and hopped into said car. I didn't get much time to examine it before I was given a bear hug by Bolin.

"Yuuto!" he cried. "It's so good to see you! It's been, like, five years!"

As he let go, I looked at Bolin, who remained relatively unchanged. "Actually…it's only been…three!" I choked out before he let go. "It's good to see you too. How've you been?"

"Great! We've done so much for the Earth Kingdom, that it even surprises me!"

"That's great!" I agreed as Kuvira came on board.

"Bolin, do you know the Zephyr?"

"Yuuto? Yeah, we all stopped the Red Lotus three years ago; that's when I learned how to lavabend, remember?"

"I see. Well, then perhaps he'll be useful yet," I frowned as she tossed me a uniform. "Go change into this uniform, and meet us in the head car," I nodded and began to walk away, when she stopped me. "Actually, before you do, go take a bath; you smell like an…ash maker."

Bolin chuckled while I must've looked confused as Kuvira turned her back to me. Still, I did as was ordered and put the uniform on over my old…let's say multinational clothing. I had been wearing leggings from the Southern Water Tribe, a half-robe, half-shirt shirt from the Fire Nation, and my old boots from Ba Sing Se.

I entered the main car, where Bolin was waiting. "Hey there; look sharp!" he jokingly ordered as I fumbled with the cuffs.

"Look, I don't know how you do it, but I'm definitely not a uniform guy," I admitted, finding the metal shoulder plates to be too heavy for my liking.

"Trust me; it's for your own good. Besides, it actually makes you look like an Earth Kingdom citizen."

"And I'd say that's always a good thing," Kuvira's voice filled my ears as she entered.

"Yeah, hey, could I just skip the uniform and just go in my street clothes?" I asked.

"Of course not; the uniform is to show that you are with us," Then another familiar face walked in, Varrick, along with his assistant, Zhu Li. "Ah, there you are."

"Yeah, yeah, you have me working like a dog and then expect me to come up for tea! Anyway, what do you need?" the eccentric man demanded.

"I want to know how long it will take for our secret project to be finished."

"What secret project?"

"Something that you'll have to earn the right to know about?" Kuvira shot down my question. "Varrick?"

"Well, honestly it shouldn't be made in the first place, at least not for _this_," Varrick exclaimed, though quickly shut up at Kuvira's glare. "According to my calculations, a few more months should do the trick."

"Very good; right on schedule. You may go back to the project now," she said as she waved him off.

"Ma'am," a private entered the train car. "We're approaching the capital of Yi."

"Very good," she replied, acknowledging the man as he exited.

"What's at Yi? I'm guessing a bandit problem."

"Ah yes. The governor of this little town refuses to accept my help with their bandit problem. We're going to make one last offer."

"And what if they refuse?" I questioned, testing the limits that Kuvira would go.

"If they refuse, then I suppose I'll leave them to their fate and take the land back from the bandits after they succumb," she explained, thinking nothing of it as we stopped.

As I exited the vehicle, I saw a small crowd of people gathering at the station to see the visitors. One thing I noticed about the crowd was that they looked rather malnourished in that they didn't look like they were being fed properly and some didn't look to be fed at all. Among them were two strangely-clad teenagers, airbenders actually.

"Opal!" Bolin cried upon seeing the female of the two. "Oh man, that's two reunions in one day!" he said as he hugged her. She, however, didn't seem to return the favor, simply staring at him, and then past him.

"Bolin…why are you with _Kuvira_?" she put distain into the commander's name.

"Huh? Oh yeah! Yuuto and I are helping rebuild the Earth Kingdom for Prince Wu's coronation in a couple months. Isn't that great?"

"You what? And you joined her?"

"Ah, Opal, it's good to see you reunite with Bolin here. He's talked so highly of you," the woman in question approached.

"Shut up, you…you…you backstabber!"

"Opal, please. I don't want bad blood to start boiling between the Metal Clan and I again. I only wish to bring peace to the Earth Kingdom again," she tried reasoning.

"Yeah right, Kuvira; you just want control! And I bet you came to do the same thing to this village!"

"She came to give this village safety from bandits," I countered, causing the girl to turn on me.

"And you; you're an airbender! The flying one! Why are you of all people giving in to her?" she advanced on me, though her partner held her back, that Kai boy from three years ago.

"Come on, Opal; we're here as peacekeepers, not enemies," he insisted, though she didn't relent. "Come on; Master Tenzin'll have your head if you of all people start a fight," he pleaded.

"Ahem," a slightly elderly voice came from behind us, and a short and stocky man looked apprehensive around Kuvira to say the least. "Might I ask what you're doing here?"

"Ah, governor. I'd like to have a word, privately if you don't mind," she said to him, urging him onto the stationary train before following him, but I grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Hold up, I'm coming too," I announced.

"And why is that?" she demanded, yanking her arm away.

"Because I don't think you're trustworthy yet."

Kuvira and I stood glaring at each other for a moment, while I heard Bolin loudly gulp in the background, before Kuvira finally relented.

"As you wish," she said as we walked onto the train. The governor and her sat at a small table, across from each other, while I stood off to one side, simply observing. "Now, governor, I'm sure you realize exactly what your situation is at this point, after my other visits and your growing problem with the bandits raiding your supplies."

"Kuvira, I've already told you my final answer. I don't care how much protection you can give us; we'll be fine on our-"

The woman slammed her hand down onto the table. "Your pride will be your downfall, governor. I don't care for false claims such as what you're spewing out at me; I care for facts, and the fact is that you're out-numbered and out-gunned, and soon, the bandits will completely raze this town, leaving you with nothing."

"…I already said that I refuse to hand over control of this village to you."

Kuvira's fist clenched tighter. "If you don't cooperate, then I'll be forced to-"

I airbent her chair to the opposite side of the car, causing her to stand in surprise. "Hey, can we talk?" I half-requested, half-ordered. She glared at me, but kept silent. I spoke quietly so as not to be heard by the governor. "You're going about this wrong. His people don't want protection. They want food and clean water. Give them that and a few supplies, and let him keep control of the town under your jurisdiction," I offered.

She considered this before returning to the man. "After thinking it over more, how about this? Your people are suffering already. I can supply you with ammunition and protection."

"How many times must I-"

"As well as food for your people, as well as clean water and supplies to make food closer to home so the bandits won't have as easy of a time raiding your fields," The new offer shocked the governor. "Not to mention, I'll allow you to continue your duties as governor so long as you adhere to Earth Kingdom regulations."

After a tense moment of silence and waiting, the governor nodded. "Very well; this new offer would be a sin to pass up. I humbly offer my services to you."

Kuvira smiled subtly. "That's extremely good to hear, governor."

The three of us exited the train car and, once Kuvira gave the word, her soldiers began unloading food and supplies and handing them out to the citizens. I approached Kuvira, about to say something along the lines of "this is what happens when you're not an idiot" when she whirled around and pointed accusingly.

"_Don't_ do that again," she said, referring to me interrupting her meeting forcefully. "Or I'll get rid of you promptly."

I glared. "I'll _do _whatever it takes to keep you from making stupid decisions, and if you don't like it then _I'll_ bring the Fire Nation's wrath down of your little army," I threatened. We both shared another glaring moment with each other, before I finally broke off, saying "I said I'm going to help. I never told you that I would be your dog."

I then walked back onto the train, ready to leave for the next destination.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one. Now, really quick, it's come to my attention, as a writer of more than just fanfiction, that I've been focusing _way_ too much on the Last (Great) Airbender and even a little on a planned sequel to it. For this reason, I might skip a day or two of uploading because I won't have a chapter available to you guys, so yeah...I just ask that you be patient and respect my pride as a writer.**

**Anyway, don't forget to review and I hope you're looking forward to the next one!**


	24. 24 Preparations

A few months later…

"Ma'am," Bolin came up to the front car as I was rolling up the sleeve stained red. Kuvira turned.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to remind you that Prince Wu's coronation is only a few days away."

"Alright, thank you. You may go back to assist Varrick now," she said as she grabbed a roll of bandages.

We had just finished up dealing with an unusually large group of bandits, and I had taken a hit on my arm. As Bolin closed the door behind him, Kuvira sighed. "What is it?" I wondered aloud.

"In a few days, I'll have to say goodbye to this life without completing the task I was given."

"If you mean stabilizing the Earth Kingdom, then I think you've done fine, though you could improve in some areas, like, for example, using military force instead of simply negotiating to achieve your goals."

"As I said, people are fickle creatures. They usually won't come out of their comfort zone unless a little…tough love is given," she explained as she began wrapping up the small wound. As she tied it tightly, I winced and yelped quietly. "A loyal soldier doesn't whine."

"Just because I took the hit for you," I countered. "Anyway, it's not like I want Wu to inherit the throne any more than you do."

"So you see my perspective? That's good. That idiot couldn't lead his way out of a paper bag!"

"I know! One of my best friends has to deal with him 24/7 too; I can only imagine what it must be like, having to go to Little Ba Sing Se every single day to make 'his majesty' feel at home," I agreed.

"He's completely unfit to rule this nation. I believe that I would be a much better fit for the job," she boasted. "If I only had more time, I could take back the rest of the territory…"

"Why don't you just refuse to hand over the power?" I offered. "It's not like he can do anything to stop you. It's not like the Dai Li patrol Republic City after all."

"What about the other world leaders?"

"I'll try to convince them of our good intentions," I said as I rolled the sleeve back down, reattaching the metal cuff. "What do you say?"

"I suppose…alright, you haven't steered me wrong yet."

"I'm sure you would've reached the same conclusion eventually. Anyway, we should get a place to stay in the city. I'll fly on ahead."

"Alright, expect us to arrive in a day or two," she said as I stood and opened the door, soon taking off and speeding past the train.

As I arrived a few hours later, and the sun was going down, I decided to wait and book the room tomorrow, landing on Air Temple Island. I stretched as soon as I landed, my back stiff from no real movement.

I entered the building, coming to a small dining room/kitchen, to find five people there; two adults and three children. Guess who they were.

"Yuuto, you're back again. How's the search for Korra going?" Tenzin wondered.

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, actually, I've kinda been leaving it to the other world leaders. I've been pretty busy with-"

"Hey, mister, what's with the goofy outfit?" the youngest, Meelo, demanded.

"Oh this? This is the uniform, ah!" I yanked the shirt off, throwing it onto the ground in relief. "That Kuvira forced me to wear for months! Am I glad to be rid of that thing for a while!"

"Kuvira? You've been in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Yup; I figured Korra wouldn't want to deal with an unruly nation without a decent sense of stability, so I helped out Kuvira and Bolin. She's actually not that bad once you get to know her, though…we did fight _a lot_…" I trailed off as I bent backwards, just barely touching the ground behind me, and then bending forward, touching the ground right in front of me.

Tenzin gave me a cautious glance. "So long as her militaristic ways haven't rubbed off on you, then I don't care what you've been doing. I'll have you know that I've called both chiefs of both water tribes, and, obviously, Korra hasn't been seen there. I've also sent word to Fire Lord Izumi, who'll be arriving later this evening, though, since you were just there, I doubt that Korra is there or else she would've found you. Not to mention; I've already scoured the Air Temples myself, and there was also no sign."

"I guess that leaves the Earth Kingdom. I'll run it by Kuvira and have a search party sent out, probably also convince her to let other nation's parties scour the place for her as well, now that we've reunited ninety percent of the nation."

"Very good. Anyway…would you like some dinner?"

"Actually, yeah, I'm starving!"

After a good meal and a fine night's sleep as everything settled in my mind, I woke up bright and early. I headed straight for the Four Elements hotel and walked up to the front desk.

"Yeah, hey, I'm here to make sure Kuvira's suite was reserved," I told the man wearing a suit too fancy for this kind of job. "It should be the, uh…Presidential one…I think…"

The man checked his clipboard. "I'm terribly sorry, but Prince Wu is already occupying that suite; perhaps Kuvira would be interested in-"

"Yeah, uh huh."

"…Would be interested in the junior suite, and then maybe-"

"Right, yeah, anyway, I'm sure that Wu fellow wouldn't mind a little downgrade. After all, Kuvira is going to have four or five people with her, including me, while Wu is only, well, Wu."

The man hesitated. "And you're sure that the young Prince wouldn't mind?"

"Oh, trust me; I know him like the back of my hand," I lied. "He'll be absolutely fine," I said as I left, the reservations done.

With that taken care of, I sought out Tenzin once again, who happened to be at the town hall, with a gigantic spirit vine protruding out from it, and several makeshift risers for guests being laid out. "Tenzin!" I called, though I soon noticed that he was joined by Reiko as well, President Reiko that is, as well as Mako and Wu. As I approached, my eyes lowered. "Oh…it's you."

"Yuuto; please show more respect."

"Sorry; not my strong suit. Anyway, I didn't come to start a fight, but I came to check how the coronation planning was-"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Wu's pubescent voice made my ears bleed. "The bleachers can't go there; that's where we'll conduct the badger mole dances. It goes like this!" he cried as he began dancing in front of the movers.

"…Is that really who we want as the ruler of the Earth Kingdom?" Mako questioned, a tiredness lining his voice.

"I admit his restiveness is rather…unnerving for a ruler, but I promise we've hired the best advisors money and government could get for day to day governing," Reiko assured.

"Right…anyway, Prince Wu is the least of my concerns. I'm more worried about Kuvira's growing military strength. I've heard that she's even sending dissidents to 're-education camps'. Yuuto, do you know anything about this?"

"I've been trying to wean her away from sending people to them, but if that's what she has to do to keep order; keeping unruly people out of the equation in a fine solution for now," I explained. "Later on down the road, I'm sure they'll be aided in getting back into a stable environment in the Earth Kingdom," I said, purposefully keeping out the fact that Kuvira won't step down.

"Alright, I'll trust you as a fellow airbender for now, but don't make me regret it."

I nodded. "Trust me, I'm going to make sure Kuvira doesn't go too far."

The three nodded, seeming to trust my judgement and thank goodness. Otherwise…well, let's just say Lin would have to put up with a lot of my whining at the police station. I'm not saying what I did was right, keeping the power thing a secret, but even if I didn't know, Kuvira probably would've done this anyway.

Whatever the case, I had made sure all the preparation were in order, and the next day, Kuvira arrived with a very small squad of troops. Wu immediately walked up to her as I informed her to the rooming.

"You know, I hope that this isn't out of line, but you're pretty easy on the eyes for a military type," he said, trying to swoon her, though she ignored him. "You know, I've been here for years, so I could probably put in a good word for you with the hotel."

"That won't be necessary; we've already reserved the Presidential suite."

"I think someone's pulling your leg, honey. _I'm_ in the Presidential suite," she said, garnering a chuckle from me as I watched Wu's demeanor crumble with Kuvira's next line.

"I had you removed; getting you a nice…what was it again?" she motioned to me.

"I seem to recall it being a junior suite."

"Junior…suite…" Wu began storming over to the main desk, allowing us to move on. Bolin looked on ahead, excited that he was back in Republic City, until he spotted two Water Tribesman.

"And…Eska is here too…great…"

I instantly understood, and instantly jumped at the urge to mock him playfully for it. I put my hand on his shoulder. "I know, right? I guess old 'ships really die hard, huh?" I said.

He nodded sadly as Eska, and her brother Desna noticed him. "Yeah, I mean, what?!" he demanded, though was silenced as his old girl approached.

"Bolin, it is good to see you. I see that you've found a new girlfriend," she congratulated him in the most monotone voice. "It is good; she seemed very authoritative."

"Um, what? Kuvira? Actually, she's kind of…my boss."

"Boss, girlfriend; they're pretty much the same thing," she said before walking away and the main desk guy approached them with something about the two of them and only one bed, but I'll leave that to another day. I must've looked weirded out.

"Are you still wondering why I left her at the altar?" he asked. If I had a drink, I would have promptly spit it out, but before I could question it, Bolin noticed an old family member. "Mako!"

"Bolin!" his brother greeted with the same enthusiasm. The two shared a mock pro-bending match before hugging and then beginning to catch up.

Once again, everything was beginning to fall into place. Everything was running smoothly, though…it would be better if Korra were here to join us.


	25. 25 Coronation

I ran through the plan again with Kuvira in private. "And I sure as hell hope that you have a good speech prepared, or else no one will even think about letting this slide," I said.

"Oh don't worry about me; I have something…quite moving planned," she replied, waving off my warning as the ceremony began, and Kuvira took her place on stage, sitting next to Tonraq.

The ceremony itself was extremely short, with Wu simply having a "royal broche" attached to his shirt and him giving a ten word speech. However he then said "There's someone who also needs to be acknowledged today for her tireless efforts to restore the Earth Kingdom in these past three years. Kuvira, rise," he said, calling her up to the mic. "For your continued service to the Earth Kingdom, I humbly present you with the Kyoshi Medal of Honor, the Earth Kingdom's highest honor," he said as he placed the shining piece of metal around her neck.

"Thank you, and if you don't mind; I'd like to have a few words."

"Sure, why not; we still have _six hours_ to kill…"

Kuvira stepped up and assessed the crowd, who seemed to be holding in a collective breath as she spoke. "Growing up in Zaofu, with Suyin Beifong, I learned that the idea of a royal family passing a title from one generation to the next was archaic, and that technology and innovation should be what drives a nation forward. It was the pathetic rule of ancestral kings and queens that caused the Earth Kingdom to descend into such incredible disarray. It's taken me three years to get it back on track, and there is no way I will allow it to slip back into the dark ages," she said with a commanding voice, garnering the attention and slight fear from the audience. "I'd like to make an announcement to the world: the Earth Kingdom is no more. And from here on out, this man has no authority!" she called, gesturing to Wu as he held up the royal broche indignantly. "I have created a new Earth Empire, and I will continue to lead it into the future myself, bringing about a new era of prosperity for _my_ people. And let me make one thing clear to my fellow leaders," she metalbent the Medal of Honor off of her neck and hovering slightly above her hand. "Anyone who crosses our borders or stands in our way…will be _crushed_!" she exclaimed as she crumpled up the medal and let it drop to the floor as the crowd grew loud in their cheers.

"All hail the Great Uniter!" was repeated quite a bit.

If I weren't in a public place, I would have face-palmed; that was just about the stupidest thing that she could've said. The goal was to ease the world's leaders into following you, not downright defying them and threatening military force. I could feel Reiko's and Tenzin's eyes searing holes through me as I looked at the ground in utter shock. Sure, I knew that she was going to refuse to hand over the power, but the tone of the speech was nothing like I expected.

As soon as everyone departed, everyone except me and the other world leaders, they were on me. I was still glaring at the ground, frustrated.

"Yuuto; did you know that she was going to-" Tenzin started.

"Yes, okay?!" I snapped. "I knew she wasn't going to hand over the power to Wu, and I'm sorry I lied, but I _really_ thought that she wasn't going to be that aggressive toward you guys."

Reiko waved his finger and two of his guards approached me. Tenzin stopped them. "Wait! Yuuto, do you think you can get Kuvira to back down?"

"I…I don't know, but what does it matter? Did you really want Wu in charge? Would that really be any better?" I questioned, standing up. "If Kuvira can keep peace and I can be there if she starts to go overboard then-"

"What about when Korra reemerges; you know she'll be on our side. Are you ready to face her?"

"I…" I struggled to find words to combat that logic. "Look, I'll go talk to Kuvira, and try to get her to…" they were once again burning holes in me. "Lessen her demands…alright? I'll get back to you, Tenzin," I concluded as Suyin began approaching, but I flew out of there right quick. I wasn't going to deal with that mess.

I flew to the Presidential Suite's window and knocked on it. Bolin opened and I landed, pacing the room furiously. "What's wrong, Yuuto?" Kuvira questioned as Bolin left and closed the door behind him. "Surely you aren't having second thoughts on the whole thing, are you?" she half-threatened, but I spoke truthfully.

"You're damn right I'm thinking twice!" I snapped. "What the hell were you thinking?!" I got up into her face, something which took her aback. "You basically just declared war on every other nation if they set one pinky toe into the Earth Kingdom-"

"Empire," she corrected.

"Whatever. Do you realize how bad that looks? To everyone?" I questioned.

"Really? Because the crowd didn't seem to mind; in fact, I'd say they approved of the decision," she countered, both of us glaring once again; a recurring pattern in case you couldn't tell.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Look, the other world leaders already tried to have me arrested because of you and they want me to try and convince you to step down. Now, I don't want you to step down, but I want you to make another speech apologizing for your tone and wording of your previous one, got it?"

"I'm sorry; I don't recall ever asking for your input. You gave me the idea and left it in my hands to decide what to do with it, did you not?"

"Maybe I did, but this definitely isn't the right decision," I insisted. "Look, I'm not asking you to do much, just-"

"Stop right there. Anymore and I'll have you branded a traitor to the Earth Empire, and by now, your little Fire Nation threat won't work," she threatened.

I hesitated, trying to collect my thoughts. "The moment you directly attack or threaten any of the other world leaders is when I'll draw the line. If you really do care about every member, including me, then you'll think twice about doing something else that's as stupid and arrogant as what you did today," I growled before storming over to the door. It opened before I could open it though, and Suyin burst through, sending metal knives through me with her eyes as we walked past each other and I slammed the door behind me.

I went down the stairs instead of the elevator, trying to collect my thoughts and emotions before having to speak to anyone else, but what I got was an argument between brothers.

"…we're making history, Mako!" Bolin exclaimed.

"By crushing anyone who gets in your way?" his brother, who was standing guard outside Wu's room, countered.

"We're working on that," I told him as I approached. "Besides, you really think that idiot teenage prince in there is really fit to rule a nation?"

"Well, no, but…"

"Then why are you still arguing?"

"Because I don't think Kuvira is right for the throne. Think about it; this is a millennia of tradition that Kuvira is just throwing away."

"So? Some traditions are meant to be broken."

"Well, maybe Wu really would be a good Earth King. Maybe not at the beginning, but with a little help and guidance then he can be just as good as leader as…as…"

"As Kuvira?" Bolin suggested.

"No!"

"Mako, Wu has had a life of luxury; he doesn't know what it's like to live a normal life; to understand his people. Kuvira has-"

"It's all about her, isn't it?! Why her? The power-hungry dictator?"

"She's not power-hungry; she just passionate about what she does," I said.

"Oh, well if you think all you need is a life on the streets, why doesn't Bolin take control? Or what about you? You seem interested in that political stuff, right?"

"Maybe I should!" I snapped, not entirely thinking what I said through before I said it. I really just said it to shut him up. However, garnering a look of shock wasn't exactly what I had in mind. "I mean…that came out wrong…look, like I said, we're working on a compromise right now; just give us time and we can argue about it later. Bolin, let's go. We should get everything ready."

"Right, let's leave them and their _junior suite_ for the night!" he yelled the words "junior suite."

We returned to the train, and the next day, we departed to return to uniting the Earth…Empire, or at least that's what I would have been doing, if Kuvira hadn't called me to the lead car for a private conversation.

"What is it?" I asked as I closed the door behind me.

"I've heard that the other leaders are searching for Avatar Korra and want to enter Earth Empire land to look."

"Yeah, they wanted me to bring it up. Is it alright if they-"

"I've already refused," she explained. "However, I also know that you are good friends with the Avatar. You must be worried about her."

"…Yeah, why?"

"Well, from here on out, I give you full permission to leave this operation and search for her freely within the Earth Empire. I've even gone so far as to give you a starting point."

"Really?" I questioned. "You won't need my help?"

"I'm sure we have enough assets by now. There's a small town named Gaoling in the south. I've heard that once, a long time ago, the town was home to a very wealthy family, but since their line has died out, the place fell into poverty, now only run by its Earth Rumble Arena. There's also a swamp right next to town that has been said to drive any who enter it insane; a perfect place for someone to hide should they not want to be found for whatever reason."

"Why would Korra be there?"

"Because in the river near town, two water tribe hair ties were found along with bracelets, etc. Sound familiar?"

"…I'll check it out. I'll be back though, so don't do anything…" she gave me a hard stare. "…Reckless while I'm gone."

"Oh trust me; everything will remain peaceful within the Earth Empire while I'm in control."


	26. 26 Found Her

I went to the swamp first. I don't know; it just seemed like the thing to do, you know? Maybe it was fate or the gods, as Ling said, or something else pulled me towards it.

In any case, as I entered, I immediately began feeling strange, as if…something was watching me. Still, I pressed forward, determined to find Korra. Suddenly, I heard laughing.

I whirled around, expecting the source to be behind me, but it wasn't; it seemed to come from every direction. I attempted to ignore it as I continued walking and yet I also tried to identify it. It seemed so familiar and yet I had this nagging feeling like I didn't want to know who it belonged to.

Soon, as I began going slightly uphill, I felt lightheaded, as if the swamp itself was clouding my mind. As I reached the top of the hill, I finally identified the constant laughter, and simultaneously did I see where it came from. "Mei?" I questioned, seeing her standing about thirty feet or so in front of me.

She simply stared, laughing.

"Mei? Is that really you?" I took a step forward, momentarily forgetting what I was doing here. As I took the step, Mei turned and ran off. "Wait!" I called, starting to chase after her.

As I followed, with her seemingly leading me somewhere, I lost sight of her as she passed through some branches, and when I passed through them as well, I saw her as I last remember seeing her; a crooked smile on her face, her eyes blank with insanity, and her limbs chained to, in this case, the trunk of a large tree.

The sight brought tears to my eyes; being reminded once again of what had happened and how I could've stopped it. Seeing it in dreams, sure, but here…right in front of me and not knowing whether or not I was going to wake up to Kanon's…I mean…someone's real presence, was disconcerting to say the least.

I dropped to my knees. "Mei, you aren't…" I reached out to her, but as I did, a flash that only lasted a millisecond appeared in my vision, and when it was gone, Korra was hanging from chains, in an X-shaped fashion, exactly as she had been on that day; writhing in pain from poison, her eyes slowly changing to that horrifying white…the only thing missing was the shadow; I could only assume that I was the shadow now.

Maybe the swamp was trying to tell me something; that I, somehow, had come to hurt Korra as Zaheer had.

"Please…" I muttered, my voice rising to a yell. "Please, just stop! I've seen enough!" I lowered my head, pressing my palms to my temples. "I know I could've saved them! I know, alright?!"

Out of nowhere, a wave of mud pushed me aside. I recovered quickly, standing and taking a defensive stance. "Quit your whining!" my attacker ordered. "It makes you sound like a spineless lemur!"

The voice alone brought me back to reality, but the woman herself was more than enough as well. Clad in simple Earth Kingdom…sorry, Empire clothing, I was standing before a woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late eighties, who just bent mud at me.

"Um…who're you?" I asked.

"Depends; who's ruining my afternoon with his yelling?" she countered.

I raised an eyebrow. "The name's Yuuto," I said as I took a step forward. "I'm look for my friend, Kor-ah!" I was once again tossed aside with this woman's mud.

"Well I don't like you; leave this swamp; now."

"Wait, I just want to talk. I don't want to fight an old woman and hurt her, so-" I was once again interrupted as she planted a foot firmly in the ground and sent me into the air. I stayed there and waited for her to attack again, but she simply looked around, confused. "Um…"

"There you are!" she bent another rock toward me. I dodged it and landed, shooting a blast of air at her, but she dodged it as if it were nothing before proceeding to stand up a little straighter, though still slumped over, and relax her muscles. "…What do you want anyway?"

"What? You're giving up? After _you_ started the fight?"

"Why bother fighting when you'll beat me? You're that flying guy after all, and I can't see you in the air."

"What do you mean? Of course you can…" I trailed off, getting a good look at her eyes, seeing them blank; she was blind. "Oh…so you can use Seismic Sense?"

"Use it? Ha! I was the one who made it popular, pal! Come on," she said as she started walking away, with me following close behind. "Not to mention I was the original metalbender of the world."

"You still haven't told me your name, miss 'original metalbender'."

"The name's Toph; Toph Beifong. It's a pleasure."

"Beifong? So you're, like, Suyin and Lin's mom?"

"The one and only."

"That's cool! They don't talk about you much."

"From what I've heard, Su isn't talking to you at all," she said nonchalantly.

"How do you know? And how'd you know I can fly?"

"Because I can see everything from here, dipstick!" she said as she stopped and turned. "Take a look."

I looked around, soon finding that we were underneath a gigantic tree, easily the size of a large building. "Wow…" I awed at the size of it before shaking my head. "Anyway…gods, I have so many questions! How come the swamp didn't drive you crazy?"

"Kid, when you get to be my age, you're probably crazier than the swamp'll ever make you. Not to mention that it doesn't drive people crazy unless they're almost there already."

"Wow, thanks, Toph…and have you seen Avatar Korra? I'm her friend and I'm looking for her."

"Hm…can't say that I have. Well, actually…I think I recall some of the swampbenders talking about this one girl in the nearby town. Maybe that's your little Avatar."

I nodded. "Thank you so much; I'll tell your daughters you said 'hi'!" I called back as I flew off and to the town. My initial thoughts were something along the lines of this:

Man, Gaoling really went down the crap-chute since that wealthy family left, just as Kuvira had said. Everywhere I turned, famine, indifference to robbery, and violence occurred, but I couldn't be bothered. I began asking around, but no one knew anything about Korra's whereabouts…until I went to the Earth Rumble Arena right after its match for the night was over. I approached the owner as he was leaving. "Excuse me," I called, making him stop walking away and turn to me. "Yeah, hey, was I was wondering if you saw anyone who looked…like the Avatar?"

"Avatar?" he questioned.

"Yeah, you know; tan skin, brown hair, bright blue eyes, the works."

"Actually, I just asked this one girl if she was the Avatar, matched your description perfectly. You just missed her. She just took her winnings and left. You can probably still catch her, actually."

My heart began to race. "Which way did she go?"

The man pointed and I made a break for the exit. But as I rounded a corner, I stopped, actually starting to think this through. Korra had been the one to leave me; shouldn't it be her that comes back to me and the world? I had literally given her my life, and she just abandoned me.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I felt…betrayed.

What would I say when I found her? "Hey, found you, now let's just act like nothing ever happened!"? No way! I was pissed, the more I thought about it.

I shook my head. This wasn't just about me; the world needed its Avatar; I knew that much. I continued heading towards where the man pointed me, and soon caught up. I saw her from a mile away, but I couldn't…make sure that it was her. Her hair was cut extremely short if it was Korra, and she was wearing raggy Earth Empire clothing.

"Korra!" I called, causing the girl to hesitate and turn to me, revealing two beautiful blue eyes; the ones I remember, though one was swollen and blackened. "Korra…"

As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened in fear and took a defensive stance, her expression soon turning to one of determination. "You again," I heard her mutter, her voice low and threatening.

"Korra, it's me; Yuuto, remember?" I questioned, taking a step forward. She only responded with a swift bending of fire towards my face. I instinctively dodged it and sent a retaliation blast of air towards her, knocking her away and to the ground. I silently cursed myself before approaching her, getting rather close as she recovered, holding her head. I held my hand out. "Come on; we need to get back to Republic City so you can help us work out this mess."

When she saw how close I was, she immediately bent a large wave of fire at me. My first instinct was to fly up and hide, and that's exactly what I did. A small group of people gathered around her and asked if she needed help, but she simply respond with a quick "no thanks" before running off.

I followed her, eventually finding her stopped at a mirror, and she was holding her hand up to her black eye. I watched a small dog seemingly appear before her and she greeted it happily. I landed on the steps in front of them.

Korra looked at me for a moment, her gaze turning to a glower as the dog jumped to her aid, growling and barking at me. "You can see it too, huh?" she questioned to the dog. "Then maybe I'm not going crazy," she said as she took another stance.

Not wanting to fight her, not yet, I took action and bent a wave of fog to envelop me, allowing me to fly away unnoticed.

I continued tailing her as the dog led her to the swamp, and then turned into a spirit, as the swamp, technically, was a Spirit Wild like they had in Republic City, and thus spiritual energy was abundant here.

"You…You guided me here?" Korra questioned it as it snuggled up close to her. "Wait…I met you at the Tree of Time! Why didn't you tell me that it was you?" she questioned.

"If I did, would you have followed me?"

"Alright, I get your point, but why did you bring me here? What do you want me to find here?"

"Not 'what', 'who'," it replied before flying off. I decided that that was a good a cue as any to show myself again. Maybe the swamp's spirituality would be enough to get through Korra's messed up brain.

"Wait! I don't know who you-"

"Korra!" I called, slightly ahead of her. She turned to me, and screamed, stumbling back a little.

"No! Get away from me!" she cried.

"Korra, stop," I said as I approached her, still in the air. "What are you afraid of?"

"No! I'm not afraid of you!"

So she understood me this time? Alright, that's a good first step, but who does she see me as? "Korra…I need you to come with me," I held out my hand.

"Get away from me!" she yelled as she bent a large rock near me. I quickly retreated behind a tree.

"Wait! Korra, I need you to come back to Republic City with me. Tenzin and the others are worried and we need your help!"

"Let Tenzin go!" she shot fire through the tree, forcing me to go into her view and dodge more of her sloppy attacks. "I won't let you hurt him again, Zaheer!"

She saw me as Zaheer in the swamp? Why? Because I was flying? Was she really this sick still?

I sighed. "Alright, I didn't want to do this, but you need help, and you're coming with me one way or another," I said as I flew towards her and landed right in front of her.

She screamed and stumbled back again, but I swept her off her feet before she could retaliate. I then pushed her back, making her head crash into a tree, before slamming her into the mud.

Now barely conscious, she looked at the mud she was laying in, and started panicking, soon falling into a light sleep.

I took a deep breath, slightly frustrated that she would leave the Southern Water Tribe when she couldn't even see straight. I picked her up, and was about to fly off to go to Republic City, but it soon dawned on me that she wouldn't stay unconscious for long, so I took her to the nearest person I could trust.

I approached the large tree and found Toph meditating there. "Toph!" I called, landing in front of her.

"Gah!" she cried her blank eyes were wide with shock. "What are you doing? Trying to give me a heart attack? And who're you carrying?"

"This is Korra. Listen, she's still hallucinating and now she sees me as Zaheer. I need you to help me make her better. I knocked her unconscious, but she won't stay like this long enough for me to get her to Republic City. Can she stay with you for a while? Can you help her?"

"Who do I look like, Katara?" she questioned.

"Katara already tried helping her, but she wasn't enough."

"Oh…wow…it's that bad, huh? Alright, bring her here."

She led me to a small cave where she bent a slab of rock to lay Korra on as we both sat on a stump, waiting for her to wake up.

Soon, she stirred. I immediately rushed to her side. I knelt next to her. "Korra, are you feeling any better?" She stared at me a moment, examining me before, without warning, she blasted me to the other side of the room with airbending. I landed and held my ribs in pain. "Oh…"

She was about to follow up, but Toph acted fast, making a rock-blindfold to cover her eyes, but that only made her shoot in random direction, so she lock her hands together and then covered her hands in the earth, soon doing the same to her feet, not letting her bend at all. "Ah! Let go of me!"

Toph walked over and pushed her back down onto the slab. "You dunderhead! What are you doing just flailing around like that? And in my home!"

"Why are you housing a criminal in your _home_?" Korra demanded.

"Look kid, I don't know who you're seein', but this boy isn't him."

"W-What? But-"

"Korra, it's me, Yuuto," I pleaded, placing a hand on her face. She yanked her head away.

"Don't touch me!"

I turned to Toph. "Can you help her?"

"…I'll see what I can do."

I nodded and stood. "Alright, I have to go. When she gets better, send her my way so we can go back together."

"Whatever you say, twinkle-toes-two."

I exited the cave and flew away, back to the train tracks, following the direction that they were heading, and soon realizing that there was a large number of prints leading off of the tracks, and I decided to follow them.

What I found was Zaofu, with an army of Earth Empire soldiers lined up in front of it. I could hear the loudspeaker from where I was. "Suyin Beifong; you and your Metal Clan are on official Earth Empire property. You are to surrender Zaofu and give yourselves up immediately," Kuvira's voice was loud and clear.

I looked on in horror. "Oh no…"

**Author's Note:**

**Whoa! Thanks for three reviews in one chapter, guys! Wanna keep it up? Oh yeah, and Korra's back...kind of...but Korra's back!**


	27. 27 Betrayal

"Kuvira!" I called as I landed, running up to her. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Oh, you're here, good. I'll need you now more than ever," she reached out, but I swatted her hand away.

"You remember what I told you? I wasn't bluffing. I don't condone this."

"And you heard me, correct? They have stolen this land from the Earth Empire and I'm taking it back; nothing more."

"You're openly threatening Suyin. The world leaders won't tolerate this; they're going to attack," I insisted.

"Then we'll drive them back. They have no authority here."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Look, just…stay here. I'll go talk to Suyin and try and convince her to…agree to some of your demands, alright? Just…don't move."

I flew off to Zaofu, and as I approached, I was immediately attacked. The Metal Clan shot their cables at me, catching my feet and arms and yanked me out of the sky. As soon as I landed, my hands and feet were locked to the ground.

The guards still had their rocks at the ready to pound me, but Suyin stopped them. She walked up to me, her glare still as active as ever. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"Nothing; I just came to talk."

"About what? Kuvira has made her stance quite clear to us. We'll have no part of her dictatorship."

"…Is there any way I can convince you otherwise?"

"Absolutely not," she remained adamant. I sighed.

"Alright…could you let me stand?" She hesitated, but removed the rock bonds. I stood, and rubbed my wrists. "I'll try to convince Kuvira one more time to leave Zaofu in peace, but if that doesn't work, then I'll fight her. If I lose…you'll have to think of something else."

I didn't wait for a response, just flew back to the charismatic dictator. "Well?" he inquired. "Did you manage to get through to her?"

"No, she refuses to give in to you. Kuvira, let's just leave Zaofu in peace; we don't need the land and the people here are happy and the city is tranquil. We can learn to coexist with Zaofu."

She hesitated. "…I refuse to just stand by while the Earth Empire isn't united," I buried my face in my hands. "I don't understand why you remain so…defiant to me."

"It's because you're an idiot!" I snapped. "I've been trying to get through to you; trying to make you into a good person who I would _want_ to follow, but you're just a power-hungry dictator!"

Kuvira remained unfazed.

"I won't allow you to take Zaofu by force; not while I can do something about it."

Kuvira laughed. "You aim to take on the entire army by yourself."

"No; that won't be necessary. Just you and me. If I win, then you leave Zaofu alone, and if you win…you can do whatever you want."

"I don't see why it's necessary for me to fight you alone."

"What's the point of leading an army if you can't take one of them in a fight?" I countered. "If you don't agree to this, the then you run the risk of your soldiers losing faith in you," She looked around to the soldiers watching, and saw their conflicted gazes as they observed. I smirked. "Just look; they're already starting to question you."

"…Very well."

"Meet me in front of your army in twenty minutes."

I exited the area and flew back to Zaofu, yanking off my shirt and the metal shoulder plates and cuffs along with them, right in front of Suyin, no doubt freaking her out. Still, she didn't say anything, just kept her steely gaze as I practiced and got warmed-up a bit. "I took the uniform off so she couldn't control me through the metal plates on it," i explained so she wouldn't have to ask before going to down to meet Kuvira.

When I landed, and it was time, Kuvira was nowhere to be seen. I sat, crossing my legs, and fiddled with the dirt with a small twig that was lying around in front of me while I waited. I waited so long, actually only about five minutes, that I was starting to wonder if she would ever show.

Unfortunately though, she _did_ show, I threw the stick away. "Took you long enough," I commented as I stood and stretched one last time.

She glared at me unamused. "If you mean to swoon me over with pure muscles, then you're sorely mistaken."

I took a stance. "You expected me to keep that bulky, metal-ridden uniform on and let you toss me around like a ragdoll? No thanks!"

She raised her chin at this, clearly disapproving as she was still fully clad in her Earth Empire uniform.

"I want you to know; I'm not going to pull any punches for you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said as she took her stance, her arms and fists fiercely protecting her chest and face, while mine was very much offensive-based.

My entire upper-body was basically turned ninety degrees from my opponent, one fist level and to the side of my face and the other loose in front of me; kind of half-fire half-airbending style stance, fitting for how I used those elements, not that she knew I bent fire. Yeah, I had decided to refrain from using anything other than air; no sound and no fire, when I came back. I was waiting for the right opportunity.

"That's a strange stance, Zephyr," she commented.

"I'm a strange guy," I replied, deciding to take the first move.

I rushed forward, flying at full speed toward her, airbending a couple of blasts as I went past her.

I flew upwards, shooting more blasts from all directions at Kuvira, only to have them blocked and as they came from different directions, she slowly formed a barrier around herself.

From there, she shot a fist into the air, sending one of the metal plates from her uniform toward me. I managed to dodge it, but then she sent more at me. I quickly tried to find a solution.

The easiest answer was: you wait for her to run out, but she wouldn't be that stupid, so then I thought of simply a way to make them ineffective.

Well, I'd say the best way would be to get up in her face so she can't use them with any sort of accuracy. Because unlike with conventional weapons, the farther a target is away from the bender, the easier it is to hit them because of the fact that you have more time to aim, and if you miss, you can turn it around and hit them from behind.

Minor tangents about bending physics aside, I got right above her and blew down a strong gust of wind, forcing her to make a roof, covering her shield and blocking her from my attacks; perfect.

I landed about ten feet away and as soon as I did, that section of the barrier was thrust toward me. I took my chance and vaulted over the boulder and ran up into her barrier before she could react, soundbending her through her own barrier.

I then used the wind to pick up the rocks and throw them at her while she was in the air with my own form of "earthbending," though she simply tossed them back at me as she landed.

I stopped, and waited for Kuvira to attack, and she did the same for me. This was when I decided to pull out my ace in the hole. I pressed my hands to my chest and changed to firebending through bending my own energy, and took a more traditional firebending stance.

I then rushed at her attack, swerving past her metal plates and shot a powerful fist forward, sending a potent stream of fire at Kuvira. When I let the stream go, I saw that she had barely managed to put up a rock wall to block the full attack, though I saw her uniform was singed in several areas, and the shock and jump caused her hair to become slightly more disheveled as opposed to its usual neatness.

"H-How did you-"

I didn't let her finish, continuing to pummel her with streams of flames. I jumped back as she started to retaliate and shot one last burst before changing back to airbending, jumping into the air and avoiding her many rocks that she was flinging at me.

I landed with a powerful downward kick, sending a strong blast into her metal barrier, and was about to soundbend to follow up, but suddenly a small rock crashed into my neck. I reared back and fell to my knees, nearly coughing up a lung. "Sorry Zephyr, but air can't pierce metal," she taunted as she locked my ankles in place. I acted quickly and broke the bonds with air, rolling out of the way of a boulder about to crush me. I stood, now panting; struggling to breathe.

"Hm…looks like you can't talk back anymore; good…" she grinned while I glared. "Oh don't worry; your voice should come back in a few hours, but for now…" she launched an all-out offensive, pushing me back to her line of soldiers.

I tried to retaliate, but I was having a hard enough time trying to keep up with her now that my breathing was shot.

Soon, she did the same dirty trick that Sakeme had done, locking my ankles in place to leave a sitting duck for her attacks. It had about the same result: I struggled for a little until they became faster and more vicious, and I eventually dropped to the ground.

I tried to get back up, but as I did, a rock came from behind me and nailed the back of my head. I dropped to the ground, watching Kuvira walk over to me in triumph before blacking out.

I had lost to Kuvira; and Zaofu was hers to take over.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, so I'll have you know that I'll probably be finishing writing the third arc today or tomorrow, so...yeah...anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter! Don't forget to review!**


	28. 28 Tension

I woke up slowly. I didn't really feel that bad, but I felt defeated, and rightfully so; I lost. The feeling was one I hated, and maybe that's why…never mind. We'll save that for later.

Anyway, as I opened my eyes and my grogginess began to fade, I saw the shadow of a woman in the tent that I was being held in. "Kuvira?" I questioned before she came into the light, chuckling to herself. "Yep…"

"This must be karma! I have defeated the Zephyr! The mighty Zephyr who defeated Zaheer single-handedly!" she boasted.

"Don't you realize? Karma is gone; dead. It doesn't exist," I countered.

"You know, you won't believe what happened. After you went down, I once again demanded Zaofu's surrender, Su once again refused. You know what that means?"

"Please, don't do this, Kuvira. You're not looking past the moment; you need to realize that the other world leaders are going to reign thunder from the heavens; they're going to destroy you!"

"History is written by the victors, Zephyr. The Earth Empire is the strongest nation in the world, and when Varrick completes our new weapon, no one in the world, even with their combined efforts, will be able to stop us. Not you, President Reiko, or even the Avatar. If anyone tries to attack us, they'll simply go down in history as an aggressor that we had to deal with, and you know what? That's how you'll be remembered as well."

"What is Varrick working on? What could possibly be that powerful?"

"Only the most powerful Spirit Energy Canon ever conceived."

"You're harnessing spirit energy?" I questioned as I grimaced. "That's…inhumane! That's a disgrace to everything Korra has been trying to do for years."

"She's been missing for years, if I'm not mistaken."

"You do realize that harnessing spirit energy for us for a weapon is equivalent to going to the Fire Nation and exploiting their coal supply forcibly, right? It's fundamentally wrong and yet you have no remorse for it!" What's wrong with y-" she sent a metal plate over my mouth to silence me.

"I won't have any more of your back talk," she said as she turned around. I soundbent through the metal plate and blasted it off and into the back of her head. She whirled around and sent me daggers.

"Air may not be able to pierce metal, but it can certainly push it back with enough effort," I smirked as she realized that she couldn't shut me up if she tried.

"I do hope you realize that the only reason you're still alive is because of the off chance that the other nations overpower the Earth Empire and I need a bargaining chip, don't you?"

"Oh? I thought the _Earth Empire_ was the strongest nation in the world!" I taunted her hypocrisy. "Why would you of all nations need a bargaining chip?"

She simply continued sending daggers, her eyebrow twitching slightly in anger. This wonderful little bonding moment was cut short, as alarms were raised around the camp. I looked to the entrance and saw that one of the tents that was up was suddenly torn down, revealing Suyin and two of her sons, ready to face an entire army. They were wearing all black, probably trying to take Kuvira out while she slept.

"Ah, good; finally," she commented as she walked out.

"No! Don't touch them!" I yelled, trying to wrestle free of the metal box that she was keeping me in. However, my efforts were in vain, as she began speaking to them. Bolin walked into my hold tent though and shut the zipper behind him. "Bolin!" I called.

"Oh, hey Yuuto…" he sounded sad. "…Sorry, I just…can't watch that, you know?"

"You mean watch your friends get hurt and captured?" I questioned. "Listen, you see what Kuvira is doing, right? Why are you still working for her?"

"Well, because…her heart's still in the right place, it's just that…her methods are a little…" he trailed off. "And besides, she's a lot like you, and we're friends, so I was thinking maybe…"

"Ha! Please, I'm nothing like her," I insisted.

"Well, you're both pretty arrogant and you both think you can do everything yourself."

"Well, so does Mak-"

"And both of you, all you want to do is protect something close to you, and you're both powerful benders, and you-"

"Alright! I get it!" I interrupted him. "Bolin, I've been trying to get through to her for months and I'm sure you have for years, and she hasn't changed. Unless her whole world comes crashing down around her, she's never going to stop this and it's going to get worse. She's going to become the next Ozai if we don't stop her here and now. Just get me free and-"

"What was that?" Kuvira questioned as she walked in, along with several other soldiers dragging Suyin and her sons in chains, soon locking them in the boxes like mine, probably platinum ones so they couldn't bend it. "Bolin, don't tell me you're being persuaded by this traitor?"

"What? No, not me," he answered nervously, his voice slightly higher. "What makes you think that? I mean come on, do I really look like the kinda guy who…who…" he trailed off as Kuvira examined him thoroughly. "I'll just, uh…go…now…" he said as he exited the tent.

Kuvira stormed up to me. "Listen well, Zephyr; you are not to speak to any of my soldiers. In fact, don't speak at all; it'll give me less of a headache."

"What happened to the kindness you used to show me?"

"It disappeared when you turned traitor, or maybe it was as false as your loyalty," she countered as she took her own leave and the other soldiers soon left as well.

I looked down. "I'm sorry, Su," I said, my voice somber.

"Don't be; I failed as well. I was…"

"Overly confident," we said simultaneously.

"But I won't be next time," I vowed. "Next time, I'm going to dominate her."

A few days passed. I'm not going to say it was dull, because pissing off Kuvira was always entertaining, but I felt like I could be doing something more worthwhile.

Eventually, around midday, out holding cells were brought out to observe something. When I looked, I saw the raggy clothing of a certain Water Tribe Avatar. She was talking with Kuvira, who looked to actually be persuading Korra to be on her side. "Korra!" I yelled. "Don't listen to her! She's a maniac!"

Hearing my voice seemed to shake Kuvira's persuasion as she looked for me. When she spotted me, she gave me a nod and then the two continued talking to one another before Korra stormed off angrily.

We were brought to where we could easily watch, as Korra was preparing to fight Kuvira, one-on-one like I had. I kind of wondered how she got here so fast, but honestly that was the least of my concerns right now.

Kuvira walked out in front of her soldiers. "Now, men, I would never ask you to do anything I would not do myself, and that includes fighting the Avatar."

"You lying sack of…" I muttered.

"If you win, then I'll leave Zaofu to rule itself and release these prisoners, but when I beat you, you'll stay out of official Earth Empire business for good. You're not relevant here, and in fact, you were the cause of this chaos; you're unwelcome here as it is."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Korra replied as she took her own stance.

Kuvira turned to face her opponent. "Go ahead and use whatever you want; all the elements, the Avatar State, anything you need. I know that you're a little rusty," she commented as she took her stance.

Korra made the first move, shooting several jets and arcs of fire at Kuvira, who dodged them handily, ducking under the last one, and as she straightened, brought a pillar up to interrupt Korra's next attack, making an opening for her to smash Korra's stomach with another slab of rock.

Korra rolled forward with a blast of air as she stood and sent a small boulder at Kuvira's face, but it was simply redirected, forcing Korra to dodge it and retaliate with another couple of blasts.

As she did, Kuvira waited and found an opening, landing one of her metal plates on Korra's wrist and another on the opposite ankles, flipping her and slamming her into the ground. After ripping them off, Korra once again launched an offensive, but it went about as poorly as before. Kuvira simply put a plate over Korra's eyes and then knocked her down with a couple of rocks.

"It looks like the Avatar is a little off her game," Kuvira taunted.

Korra stood and looked about to attack, but then she stopped. "Don't let her frustrate you!" I called. "That's all she's trying to do!"

"I get that!" Korra snapped back at me.

It was around this time that I started thinking of contingency plans, or rather the only one I had; soundbending. Well I guess I could blow out air, but what good would that do?

Then there was…

"Korra! Just go into the Avatar state!" I yelled, even though seeing her with those horrible white eyes still freaked me out.

She was in the middle of an earthbending contest with Kuvira, both trying to push a large slab onto the other, but Kuvira broke the rock and then stood towering over Korra who was now on her hands and knees. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something that resembled a flying bison leave Zaofu; good, they would get her out of here.

Kuvira raised her hand and a rock lifted from the ground, but before she could unleash the attack, Korra unleashed the Avatar state, sending what must've been the equivalent of a train car hitting you worth of air, sending Kuvira back several meters. Korra rose to her feet, sending another blast of air with the same effect, before lifting a hill-sized slab of earth from the ground and holding it above Kuvira.

But then something strange happened; Korra's eyes went wide with shock and fear, and she dropped the slab behind her and then dropped to the ground, her eyes changing back to normal. Kuvira took the opportunity to brutalize her, in a sense, knocking her back several feet at a time, and soon locking her in place by covering her chest-to-toe in earth.

Kuvira took her remaining metal plates and morphed them into sharp blades, spinning them quickly into a rotating wheel of metal death, standing over Korra.

I took fast action, sound bending toward Kuvira in a potent invisible orb and blasted her away, causing her to drop her metal plates. Soon, the flying bison in question landed only a few feet away. Korra managed to break her rock barrier and pointed to me as the group of four airbender jumped off, including Jinora.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up by the airbenders and brought over there. "Face me toward them!" I yelled as I prepared myself.

As soon as I landed, I let out the most powerful wave of soundbending I had the guts to try, letting it out in a wide radius and pushing back Kuvira's army which had begun to advance.

"What about my family?!" Opal, one of the airbenders, demanded.

"We'll have to come back for them later!" Jinora yelled as she lifted me onto the bison's back and the rest climbed on as well. Opal hesitated. "Come on, we have to get out of here! Oh, I'm sorry for the extra weight, boy," she patted her bison's head as Opal got on and we took off.

A few minutes of tense silence passed. "Hey, uh…can you get me out of this thing?" I requested.

"Why? Isn't it the same as working for-" Opal was about make a smart-alleck remark.

"Opal," Jinora warned. "He saved Korra's life…twice."

With a little persuasion, I was freed and that confounded cage was thrown off the side of the bison. Korra and I sat, our backs facing each other. Meelo looked from me to her to me again. "What's with them?"

"I don't know; a falling out?" Ikki guessed. Eventually, I couldn't take it. I flopped onto my back, my arms outstretched.

"So you can see me now, right?" I asked.

"…Yeah," Korra replied. "Sorry, for…you know."

"…Yeah…" Another tense silence fell over us. I sighed, done beating around the bush. "We spend over two years together. I spend every day trying to help you get better, help you recover."

"I know…"

"I go off to fight in your name in the Fire Nation; I get lightning shot through me for months in your name."

"I know," her voice rose slightly.

"And when I come back, what do I find? You had left months prior; no note, no goodbye, nothing. And the worst part? You weren't even fit enough to leave without someone helping you."

"I know!" she snapped, turning to me, her eyes lowered into a scowl. "I get it, alright? I was an idiot! You don't need to rub it in after everything already worked out!"

"Worked out?" I questioned, sitting up and facing her. "Absolutely nothing has 'worked out' yet, Korra. You obviously haven't recovered fully still, Kuvira has taken Zaofu and in all likelihood is going to go after Republic City or Kyoshi Island or some other former Earth Kingdom land, and certainly not between you and I…"

"…"

"Korra, I devoted my life to you, and you just…you stabbed me in the back and even then; I tried to ease your duties when you came back!"

"And you failed!" she reminded me. "The world is more out of balance than it was when I left! And besides, I came back for you! Isn't that enough?"

"…Not if we can't trust each other," I stated. "And I may still have feelings for you, but I know that I can't trust you anymore, not if you'd just leave the person who cared about you the most," Korra's eyes fluttered; she looked so hurt by that. I sighed and flopped back down onto my back. "Look, just…at least until we fix this whole…Earth Empire business, let's put 'us' on hold…if it can ever be mended…"

Korra sniffled and shook her head. "Alright, fine," she said as she turned away. She was shaking; either crying or holding back an immense amount of anger. Probably the latter; Korra's not the crying type.

As silence fell once again, and I took in the whole situation in, I started laughing. "I guess karma really is dead…or maybe the gods just resent me…well, I hate you too…" I muttered.

"What was that?" Opal wondered.

"Nothing…just the babblings of a nutjob."

**Author's Note:**

**So, I'll have you know that I've finished writing the last chapter of this arc, but the problem is that it came out to 8658 words, so I was wondering if you want me to split it up or just keep it as a mega chapter. I'd imagine the mega chapter because that gets you more bang for your buck, but hey, that's why I'm asking. Don't forget to leave a review and be sure to let me know your answer.**


	29. 29 Reunion

"Naga!" Korra cried happily as we approached Air Temple Island. She leapt off Pepper the bison and reunited happily with Naga…yay, I guess. "I missed you so much!" she said as she nuzzled with the polar bear-dog.

"Mom, dad! We're back!" Meelo cried.

"And we've got Korra!"

The two ran into their parents arms. "Excellent job kids!" Tenzin exclaimed. He then walked up to Korra and the two embraced each other. "Welcome back."

"I missed you so much Tenzin," she returned.

"Right, now, I hate to start with business, but I need to know what's going on with Kuvira."

"Right, let's talk inside," she said as she herded everyone in, leaving only Tenzin and I standing outside.

"Yuuto," Tenzin addressed.

"Tenzin…" I tried to find words to say how sorry I felt for basically just ignoring all of his warnings.

Then he just patted my chin. "Keep your chin up, boy. It'd do you good. Come on," he said as he followed the others inside, with me following close behind.

"I really thought I was strong enough to take her, but I guess I'm still not back up to one hundred percent yet. I'm sorry," Korra said, hanging her head.

"Don't worry; no expected you to deal with this Earth Empire problem by yourself. It was all of our responsibilities to stop it and we just let Kuvira take power," Tenzin lectured, only sending me into a worse mood. "Now, Yuuto, do you have anything to add?"

"Kuvira said she was…using Varrick and his money to harness spirit energy for some kind of Spirit Energy Cannon," I stated. "I don't know how far it is until its completion or even how powerful it is, but Kuvira said that it'll be powerful enough to stop even Korra, and I'm guessing she meant while she was in the Avatar State. Also, she's not going to stop her conquest of the independent states until all of the former Earth Kingdom is under her control. That means places like Kyoshi Island and Republic City are under threat as well. We should start fortifying them."

"Hm… I _did_ see Kuvira's army doing heavy examination of the Spirit Wilds while they were here. Right then. I'll convince President Reiko to send a portion of the fleet to Kyoshi Island to inform them of this," Tenzin said as he stood and exited the room, leaving just Korra and I.

I cleared my throat. "So, uh…what are you going to do, now that you're back in Republic City?" I asked her.

"Oh, you know…"

"Actually, I don't."

"Well do you need to know?" she asked.

"I want to make sure you don't run off again," I leaned back and crossed my arms, though the comment only garnered a glare from my conversation partner.

"Alright, well, if you want to know where I'll be, I want to know where you'll be."

"I asked you first."

"Well…if Kuvira is using spirit energy from spirit vines, then I should probably go to some of the wilds and make sure things are stable…" she trailed off, as if realizing something.

"What?"

"Oh gods! The swamp that Toph lives in! It's like one gigantic spirit wild and it's right in the Earth Kingdom-"

"Empire," I corrected.

"…You're sure you're back on our side?"

"Whatever; I'll go to the swamp and make sure Toph gets out okay; you can go to the spirit wilds in the city and make sure that-"

"Korra!" Asami's voice came from the doorway as she and Mako walked in. Korra stood and embraced both of them.

"Asami, Mako!" she cried. "It's been too long!"

"Try three years," Asami corrected. "Hey, I'm loving the hair."

"Oh, really? Thanks," Korra said as she stroked it slightly. Wait…was that a blush I saw on her face? "Mako, it's good to see you."

"You too. You look…great! Better than when you left!"

Korra flexed one of her arms. "Well I'd hope so!"

Mako looked down at me and my indifferent, if not downright unhappy, glance past them. "What's with him?" he asked.

"Oh, we're having a…bit of a falling out at the moment."

Mako grimaced. "Jeez, I know how he feels then."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Korra questioned, swatting his arm playfully.

"Oh yeah, Mako; how'd you ditch Wu?" Asami questioned.

"It took forever for him to finally go to sleep, but after that I was free. I'm just glad you caught me on my way out."

I let out a heavy and frustrated sigh and stood. "I'm going to go get a head-start for tomorrow," I stated as I walked out. As soon as I made it outside and into open air, I angrily cut down one of the trees. "Damn it! Why am I so…?" I held my head. "Why am I so...infuriated?" I questioned. "I shouldn't be like this," I told myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, Tenzin gave me an understanding look. "I thought you were going to talk to Reiko."

He motioned to a room opposite the kitchen. "The radio is right over there," he explained.

"Oh…" I hung my head into my hands. "I'm such a mess…I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help, but-"

"Do more? Yuuto, you've done so much already. I actually think you need to slow down," he said. I looked at him, confused. He sighed. "Here, come with me."

He led me to a small gazeebo on the edge of the island. "Um…what's so special about this place?"

"It's a place where you can think without being disturbed. This is a place of meditation."

"I don't think meditation is the thing for me right-"

"And," he interrupted. "It's also a place where Korra and I talk frequently," he said as he sat on the railing and motioned for me to sit opposite to him. I did so. "Now, I may not be my mother, Katara, but I'll do my best to help someone in need. Please, tell me everything that's troubling you."

I took a deep breath. "Where do I start?"

"How about at the root of your uncertainties? Tell me what's going on between you and Korra. I noticed that you two seemed rather tense with each other earlier."

I chuckled. "Tenzin, don't we have more important things to worry about than my relationship issues?"

Tenzin considered this before telling me something which I would carry for a long time. "You know, Yuuto, the mind can be a powerful ally, or your greatest enemy. I'm sure Katara has told you this, but it certainly is true. We are only as powerful as our conscious is clear. Something, even things that seem so obscure in their importance, can cloud our thoughts on a catastrophic scale. So I ask again, what's going on between you and Korra?"

"…We're…having a little argument, to say the least."

"About what?"

"Well, I guess I'm just beginning to see her as ungrateful for the things I do for her. I did so much for her while she was recovering. I stayed by her side through her darkest days, and took on a threat in her name, even was tortured in her place, and she just up and leaves without so much as a goodbye note."

"I see…"

"It's just…so frustrating, you know? I don't think I realized it at the time, but it really felt like the most backstabbing thing she could've done to me. And then I went to Kuvira and there was that whole…mess…" I trailed off, getting a headache just thinking about it.

"Yuuto, do you want my honest opinion?"

"Yes, more than anything. I want to know why I'm feeling so angry."

"I think you have too narrow a vision. You aren't seeing this from anyone else's perspective but your own."

"W…What?"

"Korra felt like she needed to find herself, and such a spiritual journey she felt had to be done alone. She never meant to hurt you, and I'm sure she meant to come back a lot sooner, but I'm sure that you of all people know that her recovery needed time."

"But…she should at least told me where she was going, in case of-"

"That would've defeated the point of going alone. Look, I'm not going to tell you to go in there and apologize for everything you said, because I know that it would erupt into a big argument anyway. I just want you to…try and look past yourself. And next time a major crisis happens, whether personal or worldly, try and take a step back before you yell at whoever is 'responsible', alright?"

I nodded, taking another deep breath. "Alright…I'll try. Thank you, Master Tenzin," I bowed gratefully and walked away, though I soon stopped, trying to collect my thoughts.

"Oh, and Yuuto," Tenzin called after me. "You should probably put a shirt back on before you go anywhere; you don't want anyone to freak out."

I looked down and saw that I was indeed still topless from my duel with Kuvira. When I looked back, Tenzin pointed to another part of the temple.

"Over there are all of the clothes."

I nodded and gave him a thumbs up before taking my true leave and walking over there.

When I went to where Tenzin pointed me however, I found literal mountains of clothes in the large room of the temple. I would've thought this room could've been much better used, but hey, it gave me a lot of options.

As I started searching, I found other nationalities of clothing, mostly Earth Kingdom, sorry, Empire clothing because it was right next to Republic City, but there was also a fair amount of Water Tribe and Fire Nation too. I wanted to wear something that showed both of my bending specialties, so I ended up with a light Fire Nation robe-shirt, as I was wearing before, along with matching leggings with boots. I added in a deep red airbending sash as well to give myself a bit more of an airbending look and then slipped one of my arms out of the sleeve of the robe-shirt. "Hm…I wonder if they have a…aha!" I found one. I pulled it out of the pile. "Another wind sword!"

I lit the thing up and slashed it around a little, finding it to be a better model than the last.

"I should really get proper training for this after this whole Earth Empire thing is over," I made a mental note as I said it.

With the wind sword strapped to my belt, I took off for the Foggy Swamp to make sure Kuvira didn't do anything stupid…again…

**Author's Note:**

**That moment when you know the ending but not exactly how to get there...ah, such was my weekend before the AP Exams...other than studying of course.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the last...five-ish chapters in the arc! Don't forget to review!**


	30. 30 Harvesting

Upon arriving at the giant banyan-grove tree, I realized that Korra's fears had turned out to be right. Around eight airships surrounded the tree, and over a hundred mechas with chainsaws attached to their arms were cutting roots and branches from the tree all around its trunk.

I was about to turn around and go get help, but by the time help would arrive, they would have already harvested half of the swamp, or so I thought. Then I was about to go get Toph, but then I realized…this was Toph that I was talking about. She can take care of herself.

I then noticed that as they were harvesting the spirit vines, they were loading them onto the airships. I soon decided that they should my target. I thought about whether or not the swamp would catch fire if they blew up and I quickly remembered how much water was on the surface and surrounding the swamp, so that wouldn't really be an issue. Maybe the tops of some of the roots will get singed, just so long as the trunk of the tree didn't get hit.

I started out low, and then I burst up into the air, changed to firebending, and with the momentum I had, I let loose a large stream of fire at one of the airships, though I only succeeded in pushing it away a little bit, but that sure as hell got the attention of Kuvira and her men. "Shoot the bastard down!" I heard from below, though whether it was Kuvira or not was hard to discern from that distance.

I changed back to airbending and flew back up, this time far above them, to where they couldn't reach me.

I took several deep breaths before turning around and letting myself fall backwards. I let myself pick up a little speed, before I soundbent several times until I heard several popping sounds, and I turned around, waving my arms slightly to build up the air around me into a compact sphere of air, eventually crashing into the top of an airship and sending it plummeting to the ground below in smoke.

I flew back up and slumped my shoulders, already exhausted. I couldn't do that seven more times if I wanted to stay conscious. I looked down, and saw Kuvira out of all the soldiers and smirked at her. I was tempted to make a stupid face, but that would've been immature.

As I looked for a weakness, I noticed several propellers on the ships and figured that they were serving as a method of movement. But when I tried to get in close to take them out, I was met with heavy resistance.

"Ha! Rocks? That's all? I've had a lot worse than petty rocks shot at me!" I mocked them as I dodged the boulders deftly in the air, even redirecting some of them.

Then I heard Kuvira's voice over the loudspeaker. "Go ahead and try, Zephyr; you can't defeat us all on your own."

The bad part was that she was right. I could barely take out one of these airships. What chance did I have of taking out all of them? Besides, they were already sending several chunks of rock and metal toward me; I couldn't avoid that and focus on destroying these airships.

"Kuvira!" I yelled down. "Stop this madness now!" I pleaded.

"Not on your life!" she returned. "Shoot him down!"

I tried taking down another of the airships, but it was no use with the resistance I was getting. "Fine! But you won't win!"

I returned along the rail lines, for what reason I can't remember, but was I ever glad I did. I saw a speeding train, with two of Kuvira's army bending the top of a train car inwards, blocking Korra, Mako, Asami, and that idiot Prince Wu in.

I saw Korra form an air sphere around them and jump, but they weren't going to land without a splat. In desperation, I shot a lasting blast of wind at the ground where they would land, and when they hit it, they stopped a little more before landing, still rather hard. I landed in front of them as they stood. "Hey, be a little more careful next time, would ya?"

"Well excuse me, Yuuto, but we can't fly like you can!" Korra countered, storming up to me.

"Hey, come on guys, no need for a fight here," Asami pulled Korra back.

She continued glaring. "Bah!" she threw her hands up. "Fine, but only for you."

"How're the spirit wilds in Republic City?" I asked.

"Well…I haven't looked yet. We were catching up."

"Right…alright well, while you were catching up, I found out that Kuvira s harvesting spirit vines from the swamp by Gaoling. All of her airships and a few hundred mecha are there now, harvesting them."

"What? We've got to stop her!" Mako exclaimed. I shook my head.

"When I got there they looked about halfway done. By the time we got the approval of Reiko and we moved troops through the border, she would probably be done. I did what I could, but-"

"Oh let me guess, it wasn't enough," Korra interrupted.

"Yeah, that's right, but at least I tried doing something," I said, smirking.

"I tried!" she countered. She sighed afterwards, drooping her shoulders. "Whatever, let's just get back to the city."

I nodded. "Everyone, hang onto me."

When I felt everyone had a strong grip, I rose into the air and began flying back to the city, arriving there in an hour or so. "Man," Mako started. "If we had airships that flew as fast as you, we'd have a whole new way to fight."

"Yeah…I don't see that happening anytime soon…Korra," I called to her. "Let's go look at the spirit wilds."

She nodded. "So long as you're not a smart-ass again."

I chuckled. "I'll try to refrain."

And so we entered the city and approached a spirit wild. "Wait!" one random woman stopped us. "You don't want to go in there."

"Why not?" I asked.

"People go in there, and some of them don't come out. It's…freaky, but…"

"…Right, okay. I think the spirits are a little angry," I stated, ushering Korra inside despite her hesitance. "Alright, miss bridge-between-worlds, do your magic."

She wrestled away from me. "For your information, I renounced that role when I left the spirit portals open three and a half years ago."

"Alright, fair enough, but you're still the most spirit-tuned person in the world, so…"

She sighed once again, leading me through the dense forest of the wild, overrun with mangled vines and trees growing through buildings. We examined some of the vines, but none of them seemed out of the ordinary. Then I noticed a strange glow emanating from one of the buildings. When I went to look, I noticed something odd. "Um…Korra," I waved her over.

When she approached and saw what I saw, she ran inside. "What happened to them?" Several people, including Jinora, trapped in light greens sacs or eggs, like a bee's hive or something. "We need to get them out."

"How? Who knows what'll happen if we try to break 'em out."

"Hang on a second," she muttered as she bent her knees slightly and started waving her arms, bringing up two spirals of water around the sacs, and soon the water glowed a soft yellow. As the glow intensified, Korra looked to be struggling, eventually breaking her stance and letting the water drop. "Gah! Spiritbending won't work. It should be able to purify dark or tainted spirits, but…these seem different somehow."

"Alright, any other ideas?"

"Maybe…Maybe I can meditate on it."

She sat and took up the position, while I sat across from her. I waited, as she breathed regularly, mentally complaining how long it took her to enter mediation and, in her case, the spirit world.

Suddenly, she burst forward in a scream, right into me. I caught her, but fell backwards onto my back and head. "Ah, oh…ow…" I complained as I sat back up. "What happened?"

"I don't…nothing, nothing happened. Let me try again," she insisted. I was about to argue, but she had already taken the pose again and was committed. It didn't take as long, but the result was the same, she fell into me. "Gah! What's wrong with me? I don't understand!"

"Please, Korra, tell me what's wrong."

"What does it matter to you?" she snapped. "You don't even care about me anymore! Why do you care whether or not I can meditate into the spirit world or not?!" she sat glaring at me, before realizing how bad that sounded. "I-I'm sorry; that came out wrong. Just let me…" She stopped as I started laughing. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just…it looks like we've both regressed!" I exclaimed. She stared at me in confusion. "You feel useless and lash out and I get to deal with it. It's just like while you were recovering, right?"

"Just because I didn't want you helping me walk with your airbending!" she countered, soon chuckling herself. Eventually we were both silent.

"Korra, I know things are…rocky between us, but I still care about you, if nothing else than as a friend. I want to know what's wrong. Is it the visions, the nightmares again?" I questioned. She turned away, but nodded. "About…"

"When Zaheer tried to suffocate me. Whenever I try to meditate, it just turns to that scene and I just…feel so afraid and helpless that I want to run away, out of meditation."

"It sounds like you're still scared of that day. Listen, if there's anything that I can do to-"

"I think I need to go see him."

"See who?"

"Zaheer."

My jaw nearly fell out of its socket. "You what?!"

She stood. "You said 'anything' right?" she asked nonchalantly. "Can you show me where he's being kept locked up?"

I stood and crossed my arms. "You can't be serious! He…he tried to kill you!"

"Yeah, but…I need to face him; I need to see that he's not a threat anymore."

I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it, trying to find the answer. "…Alright…I'll take you to see Zaheer."


	31. 31 Hate

So with that, I picked Korra up and flew out of the spirit wild. I was about to take off for Zaheer's prison, but Tenzin stopped me. "Oh? And where do you think you two are going?"

"I'm going to talk to Zaheer. I need to face him."

"No way, I won't allow it," Tenzin immediately said, causing Korra to look down. "Even locked up and without bending, he's dangerous. He'll try and trick you somehow, I'm sure of it."

"That's why I'm going with her," I told him.

"And you; how could you even think to bring that up?"

"What? No, I didn't-"

"Tenzin, you…you've lost faith in me, haven't you?" Korra asked. "You don't think I can handle myself anymore?"

"No, Korra, it's not that, but…Jinora went missing in these wilds…I couldn't bear to think if something like that happened to you too," he turned away, closing his eyes with a forlorn expression on his face.

"Jinora's spirit is trapped in the spirit world. Her body is trapped in these sacs in the wilds, but I couldn't get her out and I can't meditate into the spirit world because I _always_ see vision of that day, of Zaheer. He's haunting me, and I need to rid myself of him for good!" she insisted.

"…I…alright, but if anything happens…"

"If anything happens, I'll get her out," I promised. "You ready to go?" I asked her before she nodded.

"Alright, I'll call President Reiko and get the clearance," he said as we took off.

We arrived at the mountain prison, a few miles from the city, and had the white Lotus members open the door. They led us to a small entrance; two doors, one always remains closed in case, for some disastrous reason that he gets his airbending back, which he won't.

We started to walk through, but Korra stopped me. "Wait…I need to do this alone."

"But Korra…" I began, but she was already walking forward alone, and I watched the door close behind her. I turned to the White Lotus members. "Is there someplace where we can watch them?"

They led me to an alcove about fifty feet above where Zaheer was, chained up in a meditative position on the floor, Korra standing about ten feet in front of him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I watched intently, waiting for even one slip up, one excuse to let me interrupt and threaten that bastard. I wouldn't kill him, just rough him up a bit to remind him how much further below me he was in terms of power now that he didn't have airbending.

I sat on the edge of the alcove, watching…watching, until, miraculously, Korra took up a meditative position across from him, and my heart started to race.

I saw Korra begin to struggle, while Zaheer kept calm, which got me standing, ready to strike. Then, a small stream of air began circling them, almost like the air movement I saw when Zaheer was lifting Korra from the ground to suffocate her good and proper.

That set me off. I leapt from the alcove and landed between them. I grabbed Korra's shoulders and tried to shake her out of it, but it didn't work. Then, suddenly, everything stopped. The wind, the small funnel, even Korra's struggling. Everything was calm. After that, Korra's eyes shot open, but with that sickly white color. "Korra! Hey!" I called, shaking her some more.

"She won't respond," _his_ voice rang in my ears as I whirled around, about to strike the bastard with a heap of powerful wind.

"What did you do to her?!" I demanded.

"I've guided her to the spirit world, a feat, I'll remind you, you had no chance of doing."

"She normally doesn't need help with this kind of thing, and believe me, it'll only be this once that we ever see you again."

"I wouldn't be so sure," he threatened as he smirked at me. "Just because you beat me once, doesn't mean you will again."

"I won't have to; you're going to be in here for the rest of your life; powerless, like I left you."

"You think just because you're an airbender means you can do whatever you want?!" he yelled, causing me step back. He chuckled. "It's funny…we both gained the power to fly, but the one who would use it for the betterment of the world had it taken from him."

"You would've only caused chaos and anarchy; then again, that's all you ever thought about, isn't it? You know, I'm beginning to think that you never cared about anything; that you only wanted to cause destruction for destruction's sake…I think…I needed to see you too, remind me exactly what to hate whenever I meet people like Sakeme or anyone else from the Red Lotus who isn't actually evil. I needed to remind myself that it's _your_ followers that I loathe, that I'll spend the rest of my life hunting down and demolishing them until they're all powerless and behind bars."

"As if you'll ever be able to do that. What happened to being _devoted_ to Korra?"

"Well, I…she'll agree with me!" I snapped. I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, before looking him in the eye. "Once we leave this place, no one will ever see you again, and I'll do whatever I can to make sure they never hear about you. Got it? Even for what you tried to do; bring 'true freedom' to the world by getting rid of the monarchs, you are a monster, and that'll never change."

He merely chuckled. "Whatever helps you sleep at night…Zephyr…ah, I can't wait for the day when your whole world comes crashing around you, when your eyes are wide with agony and regret. And believe me…it is coming."

Before I had the chance to respond, Korra stirred. I kneeled down next to her as she woke up…as if she were asleep. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm…I'm fine. I feel…better, actually."

"That's good; let's get out of here," She nodded and followed me outside where I took her back to the city. "Alright, can you go around the city and see if the spirit wilds are docile?"

She nodded. "And I'll fix them if they aren't. What are you going to do?"

"I think I'll go see if Toph is okay. She may be strong, but she's like a hundred, so…"

Korra chuckled. "Oh come on, I don't think she's that old. Alright, go ahead. I'll be fine from here," she said, waving me off as I flew back toward the swamp.

When I arrived at where Toph had made her home, I didn't find her. Then I thought "hey, wouldn't she want to help her family?" So I thought she went to Zaofu. I found her on the way there, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as I spotted her.

"Toph!" I called, making her jump and raise a rock pillar near me before I landed. "Hey! What the hell?!"

"Don't give me that! Don't you know not to sneak up on an old woman like that?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Well I uh…anyway, it's good to see you're okay. I was worried when I saw that Kuvira was harvesting vines form the swamp. I'm actually surprised you didn't stop them."

"Are you kidding? The swamp can handle itself…but apparently you can't! Ha! It was an entertaining afternoon when you and that new Avatar lost to Kuvira the other day!" she mocked me while laughing. I frowned.

"I'd rather you not remind me."

"Oh, don't be such a sour puss and help an old woman out, will ya?" she demanded as she continued walking. "I gotta help my kid and grandkids get out of Kuvira's hands or else who knows what she'll do to them."

"Well, they should be at Zaofu right now."

"Then why do you think I'm going there?!" she snapped as I followed her.

When we arrived, we went to a small overlook of the city. She had removed the metal plates surrounding the plates and couple battalions were stationed at the entrance. "Here, I'll fly above the city and-"

"Don't bother, flying man," she said as she turned around and started walking away. "They're not in there."

"What? But what about-"

"I said they aren't there. There's nothing I can do about that."

I began following her again. "Well, do you wanna go back to Republic City? I'm sure I could convince Reiko to-"

Suddenly, I heard voices, a lot of them, approaching. I grabbed Toph and pulled her into a thick bushel of trees…if that makes sense, and waited. She seemed to have picked up, and soon I recognized the voice. "Bolin?" I asked as I stepped out. His group, made up of himself, Opal, and Lin, along with Opal's bison. "What're you guys doing here?"

"Yuuto!" Bolin cried as he picked me up in a bear hug. I noticed the distinct lack of uniform on him, and he seemed to notice my change in attire as well. "Nice robes, man!"

"Thanks, I see you ditched Kuvira too."

"Yeah, we're going to Zaofu to save Suyin and my family," Opal explained.

"And restore our love from the rift that had formed betwixt us," he added dramatically, making a sweeping arm motion.

"Ha! Like we'll get them out of Zaofu!" Lin exclaimed, her voice lined with roughness. "They've got over a battalion of troops and mechas down there, and they've taken off the plates, so we can't sneak in from there."

"Well, maybe we can dig underneath them and-" Bolin started.

"Don't bother," Toph came from the shadows that she had been hiding in. "All of the prisoners have been moved."

Lin stood straight, her expression turning to that of shock. "Um…hey, Chief."

"Hey, Chief," Toph returned, accepting a loving hug from Opal.

"Grandma Toph!" she cried. "It's so good to see you!"

"Wait, Toph? As in Toph Beifong?" Bolin questioned, to which we all nodded. "Oh…I can't even…I can't believe you're here, ooh!" he waved his hands in front of his face, hysterical at seeing the old bag.

"What's so special about her?" I asked.

"What's so special? She's only the greatest earthbender ever and my idol, and, not to mention, I'm dating her granddaughter and…You have no idea how much this means to me!" he said to her, his voice high from excitement.

Toph just stared blankly. "What's with him?" she inquired, seemingly confused.

"He's an actor," Lin explained, which surprised me, but now wasn't the time. "Anyway, if Su and the others aren't here, then where are they?"

Opal turned to Bolin. "Do you know about any camps around here?"

Bolin suddenly got really shy. "There's…a re-education camp not too far from here," he admitted, nodding to me to point the way.

"How do you know?"

"Well, Bolin, and this blockhead airbender only worked for Kuvira for months, even years, doing her dirty work," Lin explained, an unsatisfied look directed at me.

"Hey, in my defense I at least fought back against her," I retorted, sending a quick glare at Lin. "Anyway, let's go. Hopefully she'll be there so I can sock her one!"


	32. 32 Operation Beifong

After only a couple minutes of flying, we found the camp that Bolin had been talking about. We landed a few hundred meters from the actual encampment, allowing us to sneak in their lines. We entered the biggest building, a large barn or holding…thing…

Anyway, we all entered quietly, hanging off to one side to avoid being spotted, however what we found inside was horrifying; the spirit weapon was a lot bigger than I'd first imagined, being at least a hundred feet long, and add another fifty to that for all of the technical stuff that make it work.

"Did you know they were building this?" Opal demanded of Bolin.

"What? No, I had no idea!" he replied, turning to me. "What about you?"

"She…told me when I turned traitor, but I didn't think it'd be this big. We need to take it out here and now."

"Then you can count me out," Toph said, surprising us. "I didn't come here to fight some war for you kids; I came here to save my family."

Just then, the entrance up and opened, showing the broad daylight as well as three figures, the only notable one being Kuvira herself. The head of the Spirit Canon project approached her. "I'm sorry, but we weren't expecting you until tomorrow, for the demonstration."

"I just wanted to stop by and see how it was coming along. It looks wonderful. Are there any problems I can help with?" she asked, almost sounding sincere, but I'd fallen for that kind of falsehood before.

"No ma'am. Just a few bugs; everything will be ready, I assure you. We'll have a camp set up for you by tonight, ma'am."

"Very good, and make sure every able Earth Empire soldier is here tomorrow as well; I want everyone to see that the Earth Empire is _the_ strongest nation in the world."

"Yes ma'am! All hail the Great Uniter!" they all saluted her and left to continue their work as she left.

I turned to Toph and Lin. "Can you two feel where the other Beifongs are?"

They both shifted from one foot to the other for a moment. "It feels like there's an empty chamber pretty deep underground," Toph concluded.

"But there are a _lot_ of guards around it; why would they need to guard an empty room? I think they're in some kind of suspended cage in that room, but with all of those soldiers, we'd never make it in and out without being spotted or attacked or caught."

"Well, then what if we waited until tomorrow; Kuvira will want every Earth Empire soldier at this demonstration tomorrow. That means that the prison will be left pretty unmanned, right?" Bolin suggested.

We all looked at him, impressed. "That's…a pretty good point, Bolin," Opal commented.

"Thanks," he said as he held his head. "Kinda have a headache now…" he whined as we exited the camp for a wooded hill overlooking it, where we could camp for the night, planning our attack.

We all started brainstorming ideas, eventually deciding on just a simple stealth-type mission, which I opted out. "Stealth isn't exactly my strong suit."

"Then what're you gonna do? Sit out here with your tail between your legs?" Toph mocked.

"Far from," I retorted. "I can provide an even bigger distraction from you guys. I may not be able to take her entire army, but I can certainly draw her attention, maybe even sock it to Kuvira a little," I said as I slammed my fists together.

"What's with you and Kuvira anyway?" Toph questioned.

"Huh?"

"All you've wanted to do since you lost is fight her again. Are you that full of pride that you would do anything to fight her again?"

"Well I…it just works out that way," I defended myself.

"Ha! I can feel your uncertainty from over here," she said from across the fire. "What is it? Are you just in awe that you lost a fight, like you were with that dual-bender in the Fire Nation, or is it something else?" she questioned.

"But…I…" I couldn't find the words. "Maybe I'm just itching for a decent fight," I offered, garnering another laugh.

"Ha! Whatever makes you feel better, flyboy."

"Well fine then, maybe I'll just leave you guys to fend for yourselves!" I threatened.

"I don't care either way; it's your life. I just like making you feel stupid," Toph said with a carefree smile, kicking back.

I frowned, sifting through my canned dinner, staring into the fire. Was I really just making excuses to get back at Kuvira? What was it that draws me to her that I never had with Sakeme, and the opposite of what I had with Zaheer (just wanting to get away from him)?

I thought about it until I went to sleep that night, and even then a little before the "Operation Beifong" went into motion.

However as soon as it started, my brain went into high gear. Alright, the first step was to make a distraction once everyone was gathered. I saw the canon aimed at an abandoned town about a mile away.

"Congratulations on all of your hard work!" she called to the soldiers. "This weapon is _proof_ that the Earth Empire is the strongest nation in the entire world!" she yelled, as roars of victory and cheer erupted form the crowd as they pumped their fists into the air. "Fire the weapon!"

I took action quickly rising up high into the air as the canon began charging up power, and then diving into it, much like I had with her airships, right as the canon fired , sending the blast down into the ground. Unfortunately the canon was too sturdy to destroy outright, and it didn't bend either, but I certainly got their attention.

I stood, and mock saluted to her. "Hey there!" I greeted, walking up the canon as Kuvira sent a death glare at me. "Sorry to drop in so suddenly," I joked. "But I couldn't help but notice that everyone was gathered again; maybe we can have a rematch," I offered.

My wish wasn't granted however, as her soldiers began chucking rocks towards me as an alarm started going off, causing a couple of mechas to tear off toward the prison.

I dropped off the canon and swept in an arc on the ground, sending a blast to trip up many soldiers. I rushed up and toward Kuvira, sending a blast of air down at her as I landed, forcing her to roll out of the way as I dodged a couple more boulders and sending a potent wall of air to push her soldiers back, giving me some breathing room.

"Why do you feel it necessary to butt in where you _don't_ belong?!" she questioned, extending a metal blade from her wrist cuff as I lit up my wind sword.

"I guess I just love pissing you off!" I yelled back as I dashed toward her, stabbing into her side, though she sidestepped and swiped in return, forcing me back onto the control panel as Kuvira's soldiers caught up, once again sending boulders my way, knocking me off the side. I leapt up once again, sending several blast toward her soldiers to slow them down as I once again focused on Kuvira. "Come on, just give this up!" I yelled. "Having stability in a nation is one thing, but this…this is just a grab at power!"

"The _only_ way to get through to anyone in this world is to show your power over them!" she retaliated as she literally retaliated, sending some of the metal from the platform toward me, which I spun around, sending my own barrage back, quickly advancing on her, pushing her to the edge of the platform.

"There's good in you Kuvira; it's just blocked by this mad lust for power! Give this up!"

"Your petty words mean nothing!" she retorted, bending a cart from the side of the platform into me, pushing me off on the side of her soldiers, who quickly surrounded me.

I stood and took a stance, ready to fight, but suddenly a wave of earth toppled them all, and when I looked, Suyin, two of her sons, Lin, and Bolin were here; five earthbenders and an airbender-firebender against an entire army. I'd say the odds aren't in our favor but that would be redundant.

I saw the brothers about to smash one mecha between two earth pillars, so I aided them, pushing a few more in as well, letting them get smashed before I leapt to their side to help from there.

"I thought you'd never join the party!" I yelled over the chaos.

"You, zip it!" Suyin snapped, obviously still pissed about earlier. "Not another word!" she yelled as she and Lin brought up a wall which the sons heightened and thickened, blocking us off from the soldiers.

Suyin stepped to the edge, but Lin pulled her back. "Going out there is suicide!" she yelled.

"I'll distract them!" I said as I ran out the opposite way, changing to fire bending and sending a stream towards Kuvira, but it was blocked by an earth wall from her soldiers, who then focused on me.

I watched Suyin duck behind the canon, and then engage Kuvira directly, while the rest of us engaged her army.

However eventually, Kuvira got the upper hand, and at that point, we had all been cornered, forced to close ourselves in behind a giant earth wall, which they eventually broke down.

We stood facing a hundred trained earthbenders and mechas and Kuvira, and we had no chance to escape.

"Sorry guys; couldn't quite get the upper hand this time," I smirked.

"I don't understand how you can make light of what's going on," Lin commented, as Kuvira waved her men to take us captive.

Suddenly, it seemed the Earth itself was shaking, as a large wave of rock washed over the battlefield, save for our small circle, and when I looked, I saw Toph, along with the others.

Kuvira could only watch as Toph pointed at her defiantly. "You give metalbenders a bad name!" she yelled as we ran toward them and hopped on Opal's bison, flying away as Kuvira watched.

I sighed. "Thanks, Toph. We owe you."

"Don't thank me; it's these boneheads who came to save you," she said, urging Suyin and Lin forward.

"Well…" Suyin started.

"We knew you would get too into it; that's how you are."

I looked to Suyin. "Look; I am _so_ sorry for what happened. I never should've let Kuvira-"

"Stop right there. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but _only_ this once, got it?" she demanded. I nodded, garnering a deep breath from her. "Right then, let's put it behind us, shall we?"

"I agree. We need to prepare Republic City. If Kuvira has that weapon ready, then she'll no doubt attack within only a couple of weeks!"


	33. 33 Uneasiness

I dreamed a lot of things in my free time, though they were mostly variations on one; I was set in a black void, much like I was meditating. I would get up and walk around for a while, and eventually, I would come to three curtained-off areas.

As I stood in the center of them, they would each rise to reveal three different people in front of different backdrops. One was Korra, with the backdrop of Republic City, Avatar Island, and Air Temple Island. I could be with her and live alongside her, trying to maintain balance in the world.

The second was of Kanon, the backdrop being Kyoshi Island. I could go and retreat with her, learn their ways and helping to defend their island, where I could comfortably meditate and live without any worry of anything; a perfect life with no worry, or so my dream told me.

The third and final one showed Kuvira, the backdrop showing her army and the spirit canon. I could rejoin her, pledge my loyalty to her, and live with her in maintain the Earth Empire as the strongest nation in the world, spreading innovation and prosperity to the rest of the world with our innovative ways; ways where there wouldn't be a lower class and there wouldn't be anymore death by famine or plague.

The funny thing was that I wanted all three. I wanted a peaceful life, I wanted to help maintain balance, no matter the cost, and I wanted to poor and unfortunate to be able to live peacefully as well.

Each time I slept since we got back to Republic City, I'd had this dream, and each time the outcome was different. Some nights, I'd go with Korra, other Kanon, and still others Kuvira. Some nights, I would have waited too long, and they would all turn their backs on me, leaving me, and, worst of all of the outcomes, I would turn my back of all three of them, just walking away to grieve for myself and grovel in my own sorrows; alone.

I woke up on one such night, much as I had before; bursting up, panting heavily from my nightmare, my muscle shirt drenched in sweat. I needed fresh air. I stood, running my hands through my moist hair and then sliding them down my face, rubbing my temples and feeling under my eyes to find no bags still, thankfully. I hadn't been getting good sleep for a little over a week now, and I couldn't afford to not be on my A-Game when Kuvira came.

I went outside, to the beach, and shot out half-hearted airbending blast before they became more passionate as I became thinking about things, about what would've happened and what could happen should we fail in stopping Kuvira.

What if she fires the spirit canon right at Air Temple Island with everyone on it? What are we going to do? If I were _extremely_ lucky, I could maybe bend the beam using my energybending because it uses spirit energy, but that much energybending could kill me or it could backfire completely and just use me as an amplifier for its power or something else.

I felt someone's eyes on me, and when I turned, I saw Tenzin, just watching me. "You know, if you're going to stand there, you could always come over and help me!" I called, only loud enough for him to hear.

He shrugged, simply pointing to the horizon. I turned, and saw a brilliant sea of lights from the north, dancing like stars I could touch right up in the night sky. Tenzin walked up to me. "It's rare that the sky is so clear that you can see the northern lights all the way down here by Republic City."

"I…never saw them before. They're different from the southern lights. They're bluer…"

"You should take it easy."

I scratched the back of my head. "Well…tell that to my brain. It's like every time I go sleep, my brain still wants to train and practice."

"…You know, part of me wishes Korra was like you; motivated all of the time, extremely passionate about doing what you believe is right. It's admirable."

"Yeah well, I'm not nearly as wise or as good of an airbender as you are," I replied, waving off the compliment as formality. "When all of this is over, would you mind making am me a fully-fledged master? I think…I think it's time I accept the responsibility, and I'll, uh, do my best to learn the scrolls too," I promised.

"I'd be happy to; you've earned it, solving two crises nearly single-handedly already, in your first three years as an airbender, plus you showed promise form the beginning…plus that fancy thing you do with your voice."

"Oh, that's not my invention. See, there's an airbender in the Fire Nation who I worked with named Ling; he's the original soundbender. It's basically thinking about air the way we think about water. Just like water is a medium for fish to swim through, air is a medium for sound to travel through, so if you change around the air a little, poof; instant sonic wave. Although, from what Iroh told me, Ling is a _lot_ better at it than I am."

"I'd like to meet this 'Ling' after this is over. Would you mind introducing him?"

"Sure, but…actually, never mind."

"Well alright. I'll leave you to practice then."

After a couple more hours, the sun was up in the sky, and more people were starting to get up. I was so tired by that time; I hadn't stopped since Tenzin left, and I needed rest. I plopped down onto the sand, my arms out to my sides, panting, though soon my breathing returned to normal.

I closed my eyes, basking in the warmth of the sun, as well as the ocean breeze that was now here. When I opened my eyes, I saw Korra standing over me. "Yeah? What?"

"You wanna have a match?" she asked.

She had been asking this almost every day, and most days I was as I was now, burnt out by noon. "No thanks," I answered.

"Aw, come on; I have no one to practice airbending with, and all I've seen you do is sleep!"

"Sleep is important!" I retorted. I hadn't told her that I hadn't been sleeping basically at all during the night. "Just…go ask Bolin or something," I waved her off, sitting up and wrapping my arms loosely around one of my knees, my gaze glazed over as I thought back to the dream.

"Yuuto, Kuvira is going to be here soon, and you can't even motivate yourself to prepare yourself! If you want to be any use in the battle, then you need to be on you're A-Game."

"Trust me, I am on my 'A-Game', Korra. You just don't know it."

"Fine, then prove it!" she snapped as she blasted me toward the water with her own airbending. I stood, and stood facing her, but she just glared back with her arms crossed. "I'm waiting."

I sighed. "I'm not going to hold back," I told her.

"Fine, we'll see just how little you've been-"

I didn't let her finish as I dashed up to her, pushing her up into the air, rolling under her and keeping her up at the same time before jumping into the air with her and slamming her into the ground, staring down at her. "I win," I told her.

"That was…t-that was a fluke!" she growled as she stood. "What's with you? Why are you so pissy lately?"

"No reason in particular; it's just that everyone in Republic City could die, worst of all you."

"You're worried about me?" she questioned, confused.

"Of course; how many times do I have to tell you that I _devoted my life_ to you, and if anything happens to you then…" my voice caught in my throat.

"O-oh…I guess with everything that happened, I forgot. Sorry for being a little pushy."

I sighed. "No…I could be a little nicer."

"Yeah, I like the lax Yuuto," Bolin commented as he approached, eaves-dropping no doubt.

"Do you now? Alright, I suppose I could be that guy for a while; see how it works out," I answered sarcastically. "Look, my tenseness isn't exactly something I can turn off…of course it doesn't help that I'm…kinda the cause of all of this, but…" I trailed off.

"Wait, what?"

"Tenzin didn't tell you?" I questioned.

"No, it _never _came up; how'd you cause this?" her brow lowered.

"Well, I…kinda gave her the idea to not hand over power to Prince Wu, and-"

"You what?!" she yelled. "How could you be so stupid?"

I frowned. "Hey, you don't know the whole story okay? So let's not jump to conclu-"

"Oh, I'll jump to 'em alright. What gave you the _bright_ idea of giving power to a heavily militarized dictator?"

"Well, I was working with her, for one, and for two, she hadn't quite shown me how radical she could go. And I still think she could stay in power if we can talk sense into her," I explained.

"That's…crazy talk."

"Look, I'm telling you what I told Mako; it was either her or that bumbling Wu, so I think I made a reasonable decision!"

"Like hell you did!"

"I don't have to deal with this," I said as I turned around, now even more angry and frustrated than before, beginning to walk away.

"What? Where are you going?" she demanded.

"I have to go talk to the world leaders; they're having a meeting today," I told her.

"How come I didn't know about it?"

"Not sure; don't care to be honest," I said as I lifted myself off the ground and began flying away, hearing Korra yelling after me.

I arrived at City Hall relatively soon, early for the meeting in fact, not that I would be participating. I didn't exactly see a crown on my head like I did Izumi when I got there.

In fact, hey! Izumi was here! She's an old friend, right? Might as well say hi.

I landed in front of the building just as she was arriving. "Fire Lord Izumi," I addressed her.

A soft smile came over both of us, one between friends seeing each other again, like I had with Asami and Mako and Bolin when I returned to Republic City. "Yuuto," she shook my hand. "It's good to see you again. I hear you've been busy."

"I guess you could say that. How've things in the Fire Nation been?"

"We've been slowly weeding out the rest of the Red Lotus quite handily, thank you."

"I see, and…beg my pardon, but what brings you here to Republic City?"

"Well, once President Reiko found out that Kuvira was going to attack the city, he called the world leaders for a meeting and convinced us to help fortify it. I came to the meeting today to inform him that the Fire Nation's Navy and Army are ready to defend."

"That's good to hear," I said as we entered the room. Inside I saw Tenzin, who had left earlier this morning, Reiko, Tonraq, Suyin, Lin, and…ugh, Prince Wu…along with Mako, but he's in about the same boat as I was in this meeting; not part of it, and, might I add, still pissed at me from the glare he was giving me.

They all nodded to the Fire Lord Izumi and I took a place leaning against the wall. I didn't want to interrupt.

"Alright, let's get this meeting started," Reiko announced. "First thing's first, we need to make sure we're covering all of our bases. Prince Wu, how is the evacuation coming?"

"It's going well," he said while looking at his slip of paper, surprisingly calm…relative to how he normally acts anyway. "So far, we've gotten the majority of the downtown area out of their homes and into a train to safety. We're beginning to start with the Industrial District as well."

"Very good. Su, what of Kyoshi Island? Is it fortified enough?"

"Actually, they offered to help," she said, with the rest of us raising our eyebrows. "The division of the Navy you sent there is bringing back some of the Kyoshi Warriors to aid against Kuvira."

"Excellent. When will they arrive?"

"My estimate? No more than a day from now," she answered.

"Right then, Lin, how goes the defenses?"

"We have men at every inch of the wall, ready to pounce wherever Kuvira decides to show her ugly mug," she said, to which I frowned in disapproval. "Trust me, Mr. President; we'll be ready for her when she comes."

"And my airbenders will be patrolling the surrounding areas for her. When she _does_ come, we'll know ahead of time, giving us precious seconds to prepare," Tenzin added.

"My military arrived in Republic City this morning and is beginning to set up around the city, on rooftops and such, to give support to whoever needs it, and I've ordered a few squads of the army to aid in the evacuation," Izumi concluded the updates; Tonraq apparently couldn't spare any people at this time, maybe the season was slow and he needed all of the benders and warriors for hunting or something; I didn't exactly blame him. Compared to the Fire Nation and the United Republic, the Water Tribes, as a whole, didn't have a very large military force. Izumi then turned to me. "And for you, Yuuto, your soundbending friend will be arriving later today as well with the rest of my troops. I asked him personally to help you."

I smirked. "Oh good, the lanky teen is going to show," I commented, before letting them return to business.

Suddenly, Korra burst in through the doors. "Korra!" I called, walking up to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came because I'm a world figure and I figured I'd help where I could," she turned to Reiko. "And why, _exactly_ did you invite him, and not me," she demanded, gesturing to Wu.

Tenzin stood. "Korra, please, just calm down. We know you've been stressed as it is with the spirit vine problem and-"

"Again, _him_, and not me?"

Reiko and Tenzin exchanged a glance before Tenzin continued. "Alright…it isn't fair to keep you out of the loop. I'm sure you've noticed that the city is being armed and fortified. The meeting is an update, that's all."

"Well, shouldn't our goal be taking down Kuvira? Why would we be risking Republic City when we can just take the fight to her?" she questioned, garnering uneasy looks from them. "Tenzin, I promise that I'm ready this time; we'll all be ready for her. Let me take a small group, we can take down Kuvira and finally put Prince Wu back on the throne and-"

"Yeah, um, about that," Wu spoke up. "You know, for risking of doing an impromptu speech here, I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do for the Earth Kingdom when this is all over, and I've come to realize…I haven't the slightest idea what the people of the Earth Kingdom want. So, I think I'll get this over with before the time comes for the paperwork; I'm stepping down as the Earth King, and handing it over to him," he pointed to me.

"What?" I asked.

"What?!" everyone else yelled afterwards.

"Now, Prince Wu," Reiko tried to regain his composure. "Let's not think hastily about who you want succeeding you. It's quite alright to step down, but surely you mustn't-"

"Actually, President Reiko, I've thought for a long time about this, and it was this man's words that made me really start thinking about stepping down, when he said 'some traditions are meant to be broken'. I gotta say, Yuuto, those words really spoke to me," he put a hand on my shoulder. "Plus, you've shown great interest in politics that I couldn't care less about! It's a perfect match! Alright, now let's just, ugh, make this official," he said as he lowered me onto my knees in front of him, with me being too dumbfounded to fight back. "I, Prince Wu of the Hou-Ting Dynasty, personally allow you, Yuuto of Ba Sing Se, to succeed me as the Earth King!" he exclaimed.

He stepped back, all of us too much in shock to say anything.

"Well, I'd better get back to the evacuation. Come along Mako!" he called to his attendant as they both left the room.

We all watched after him. "…What…just happened?" Korra wondered, voicing the thought we all had in our heads at the time. "Did he just…are you…?" she turned to me, pointing from the door to me and back to the door repeatedly.

Reiko was the first to recover. "And…perfect; another thing to worry about…" he muttered to himself as he walked up to me and helped me onto my feet. "Well, Yuuto, was it? It seems that you're the new Prince…I guess…"

"I'll be…the Earth King…?" I was still trying to wrap my head around it. I took several deep breaths as Reiko continued.

"Now, we won't expect you to accept all of the responsibilities right away; once this is over, you'll be given proper training and such."

I nodded. "…Alright. I'm ready. I am going to be the Earth King, and I will do whatever's necessary to keep _my_ nation in order and peace; whatever it takes. I'm not going to let it fall into chaos as so many rulers had placed it in before and…" I stopped midway, chuckling to myself a bit. "…Sounds like Kuvira…" I commented, raising my head up and letting my hair fall over my eyes. "…I wonder why…"

Suddenly, before anyone else could say anything, a United Forces Soldier came in. "Sirs and Madams, Kuvira's army has been spotted a few miles out of the city, and she has a gigantic mecha suit with the spirit energy weapon on it!"


	34. 34 Day of the Colossus

Well, no time to think about the aftermath; I shifted my focus to the task at hand. I jolted awake from my stupor from being elected as the Earth King, and took action. "How long until she gets here?"

"Just a couple of minutes, I'd estimate," the soldier said. "Off the downtown wall, along with a thousand mecha and several thousand solders, sir."

"Alright, then we should start preparing. We need to finish evacuating downtown as soon as possible, either loading them onto trains away from here, or into underground bunkers of some sort. When Kuvira breaks through the initial defenses with her weapon, there won't be any civilians, I promise," I explained, heading to the door, already devising a plan. "Once she makes it into the city, we can see about getting Su and the Lin and Metalbending Police to bend open the giant mecha, or find some other way to shut it down while Korra, the other benders, and I can keep her occupied, if not destroy it outright. The military's main goal should be the containment of Kuvira's forces; they can't be allowed any hostages or else we'll be forced to comply, especially if it's a large group of civilians."

"And why should I listen to an amateur who-" Reiko started to argue.

"Yuuto, this bait tactic may have worked with the Red Lotus, but this is on a whole other level; that was a palace and this is an entire city."

"And we also have more players to deal with," I agreed. "But we don't have time for come up with anything else if Kuvira will be here any second. President Reiko, you stay here with Fire Lord Izumi and Tonraq and try and think of a safer, long-term plan, but until then, we need to keep casualties to a minimum," I offered.

"…Alright; but this better not be a trick like last time. I'll contact Tenzin and tell him to meet you downtown."

"Trust me; I'm through dealing with Kuvira's lies too. Korra, Suyin, I need you two. We need to get downtown and see exactly what we're dealing with."

They both nodded and followed me outside. As we approached an open area, I came to a realization. "Um…I don't think both of you will fit on my back," I commented, but only got an amused look from both of them, as they had the exact same thought as they made a small half-dome which had a little handle for me to hold. I tried lifting it while on the ground, and got nowhere, but as soon as I began flying, it seemed the weightlessness transferred…weird. Anyway, the two climbed in and we took off toward the downtown area, where we met up with Tenzin and the other airbenders, all wearing fancy new wingsuits.

I watched the wall, where the United Nations Army was standing by. Soon, we saw, through the morning fog, several soldiers, and soon mechas before hearing, no, feeling a loud thudding sound, and soon the monstrosity came into view. A twenty-story-high giant of a mecha, shining in a way unlike metal I've seen that was bendable, with a giant arm canon that I could only assume to be the spirit weapon.

"It looks like platinum," Suyin commented, inspecting the machine. "Maybe the joints we can bend," she offered.

"Why can't you bend platinum?" I asked, showing my ignorance.

Suyin shook her head as the rest of the Metalbending Police, Lin, and Bolin approached on the ground. "Too refined; even the best metalbenders can't sense the earth inside it like we can other metals," she explained. I nodded, not really understanding, but more so accepting. I took them down to Lin. "Lin, it's completely platinum; we can't bend it."

"What about the joints?"

"That was my idea. If we can immobilize it long enough for some of us to bend them, then we could topple this thing before it has any chance to-"

"Citizens of Republic City!" Kuvira's authoritative voice was heard from here, while she was several hundred meters away yet. "I ask that you not panic; that this is for your own benefit and for the benefit of the Earth Empire's unity."

"All hail the Great Uniter!" we heard from her army.

"I'm sure you're aware that many years ago, the United Republic of Nations was a collection of the Fire Nation colonies on Earth Empire land; this is something that will not be tolerated any longer. Me and my army have come to liberate this land from its fascist rulers and restore the unity of our great nation!"

"Yeah right!" I yelled, flying up to face her. "This city belongs to the people of the United Republic; you have no place here and are already trespassing!" I called.

"Oh, that's rich coming from one who served me loyally for over three months," was all she responded with. I flew back down to the airbenders.

"I sure as hell hope you guys have a plan to immobilize that thing, because I have no idea," I said to Tenzin. "Any ideas?"

Suddenly, a large crashing sound was heard as a light pink glow erupted from the City Wall; it had been blown open, allowing much of the army to pour through, with the rest having to deal with the home team.

"We need to get to the high ground!" Su called over the chaos that ensued, using her metal cable to hoist herself onto a building, with everyone else soon following.

Su and Lin both stomped the ground and brought out a huge slab of rock, chucking it straight at the monster's chest, but it didn't so much as faze it. Korra and I shot air and fire towards it, but that did jack as well.

Lin turned to Bolin. "Can you make its foot sink with lavabending?"

He nodded and slid down the building on a slab of rock, running and jumping into the air before slamming his hands down, shooting molten rock toward the giant's foot, soon spreading it to cover the entire rectangle of surface.

Lin and Suyin shot down as well, running onto its ankle as Lin tried to bend it. "No good; the joints are platinum too!" she yelled back.

"Alright, then we'll just have to take this thing down the old fashion way!"

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, several canon shots came from behind us, and when I looked, quite far into the distance I might add, I saw the United Nations Navy opening fire.

I heard something of a scoff from Kuvira, as the giant, began aiming. "No!" I yelled, about to…I don't know, jump in front of it stupidly? But I was too late, and the canon opened fire, destroying the navy outright in one fell swoop. I dropped to my knees, shaking.

"How are we supposed to beat something like that?" Opal questioned, all of us in shock of the weapons power.

"You can't!" Kuvira answered. "Now, surrender Republic City before anyone else has to get hurt or killed!" she demanded.

"Over my dead body!" I yelled back, shooting a potent stream of fire at it. It didn't do anything however, as she then aimed at all of us. Korra dove into me, pushing both of us off of the building to safety, the airbenders and the rest just barely dodging the blast as well, but the building we were on was all but nonexistent now.

As we ran, I tried to think of how we would be at an advantage; something, anything, to give us an edge. I only had one thought. "We need to draw her to the bay!"

"What? Why?" Korra questioned.

"That's where you'll be at your full potential. Maybe you can destroy it in the Avatar State," I offered. "It's not much, but it's all I can- whoa!" I rolled out of the way of a mecha in hiding trying to kill me.

Korra quickly dispatched the thing, but more soon came. I grabbed Korra's wrist. "We need to get out of here," I said before flying up and away. I surveyed the area. Bolin was maintaining the lava foothold, the airbenders were distracting it in a kind of swarm around it, and Lin, Suyin, and the other metalbenders were trying to topple it by chucking rocks at it. I landed Korra on a building a few away from the monster, as she brought up several chunks of building around her and chucked them at Kuvira's giant, but, again, it did nothing.

This was getting us nowhere; we needed a way to beat this thing. "We need to fall back!" I yelled. "Bolin! Lock its other foot down!"

As he did that, and Su and Lin made a gigantic half-dome for everyone, we rounded all of the fighters up and retreated.

When we landed, everyone was panting, exhausted from just that. "We need a plan, and fast," Tenzin said. Korra looked to me.

"We could lure it to the bay; then Korra might be able to do…something to it," I offered.

"I doubt that Kuvira would be that gullible," Suyin reminded me. "Besides, that would give her a clear shot to anywhere in the city if she wanted. We can't take that risk. We need to keep her isolated here."

"Then what can we do?"

Before anyone could give a suggestion, a battalion on both sides of us appeared, once again, seemingly out of nowhere. When I looked up, I saw several soldiers on the rooftops; we were surrounded on all fronts. "Ordered to capture us no doubt," Lin commented.

"Clearly."

"The airbender in the robes; keep him alive. Kuvira wants to finish him herself. The rest you can kill," one of them ordered as they started advancing on us. Korra and Tenzin stood in front of me protectively.

"Like we'll just sit down and die!" Korra yelled.

"Or give up Yuuto to you heathens!" Tenzin agreed.

"Wait!" I called, stepping in front of them. "If I go with you to Kuvira, then will you let the rest of them go free?" I questioned.

"You can't actually be thinking of-"

"Sh, I know what I'm doing," I said, taking another step forward before being yanked back.

"No, you don't! Why do you _always_ try and take things into your own hands and be the leader and try and tell people what do and try and make all of the sacrifices?!" she yelled. "That's what's going to get you killed!"

"I-I…" I didn't know what to say.

We didn't have time to argue however, as one of the mechas came forward and tried to swat me away into their ranks, but I vaulted over it, slamming it into the ground with a strong gust of wind.

Our small group of five or seven, excluding the metalbending police and the other airbenders as they were trying to get rid of the rooftopers, was now against an army of mecha suits, we were losing.

We were quickly backed up to each other, our shoulders practically touching. Then, I noticed something odd past the army. A lone, lanky teen, breathing in and out, and behind us, where I doubt anyone was looking, a glowing blue light. My eyes widened as I recognized who was here. "Get down!" I yelled before a piercing screech was heard and sustained, sending a massive shockwave which ruptured the earth in a wave, flinging the enemy up into the air. I had to block the shockwave with airbending by the way, so we were in no danger. Anyway, once they were all up into the air, a wave a lightning swept overhead, arcing above us, frying the mecha suits and rendering them completely useless as they landed.

"What…just happened?" Korra wondered as I rushed into the lightningbenders' open arms, hoisting her up into a hug.

"Kanon!" I cried, so very happy to see her as the soundbender joined as well. "And Ling!" we hugged as well. "It's so good to see both of you!"

"Well, we couldn't let you have all the fun, now could we?" Ling questioned as the Earth Empire soldiers on the rooftops were tossed down by the other Kyoshi Warriors. "It's good to see you too, man."

"How'd you guys…coordinate that? Were you two trying to impress me or something?" I accused teasingly, tapping them both on the shoulder.

"As if I'd need it, Mr. Dual-Bender!" Kanon retorted. "At least I can decide on what I can do!"

The rest of the group soon joined us. "Friends of yours?" Suyin inquired.

"Yeah, this is Kanon and Ling, definitely good friends. We met when I went to the Fire Nation. Ling's the original soundbender, and Kanon and the best lightningbender I've ever seen," I introduced them.

"So, these are the people you knew before you came crawling to us, huh?" Ling examined them.

"They're all world famous; you don't need to introduce them," Kanon explained. "It's nice to meet all of you. I'm with the Kyoshi Warriors; we heard what Kuvira was doing and thought it best to come and help before she targeted us."

"I'm with the Fire Nation."

"So you're Ling, eh?" Tenzin and Suyin approached him. "Yuuto's told me about you. He says you're the 'original soundbender'."

"And you used that soundbending technique on a much larger scale than what Yuuto has demonstrated," Suyin agreed.

"Well, I uh…yeah, thanks, Gramps, but it's really not that big of a deal," Ling waved off the compliments as Tenzin turned red.

"Gramps?!" he snapped.

"Yeah, um, not to interrupt, but we have bigger things to deal with than these two. We still don't know how to beat that colossus," Bolin reminded.

"Well, if we can't destroy it, we'll zap it into submission," Kanon offered.

"For something that big, we'd need…millions of watts of electricity to short it out, and that's if it even runs on electricity."

"Well, we know the canon is run on spirit energy. I'd say it's a safe bet that the whole thing is too," Lin agreed. "We may not be able to destroy or 'zap' it, but we can certainly block Kuvira's view. We can lead it to the bay, and Korra and us earthbenders could make a lot of sludge to drench the window. Maybe after that we can try and topple this thing over."

"We can help with that part," Tenzin assured. "It sounds like a plan."

"Alright, I'll get Kuvira's attention," I said. "You guys can actually lead her there."

They all nodded, and I took off. I got right up into Kuvira's face. "Catch me if you can!" I called, flying away before she tried to squash me with the mecha's hand. "Missed me!" I yelled, flying up and away from her, allowing her to charge her canon and let it off, but I managed, quite easily, to avoid it while still retaining full control of my flight. I stared off after it in a mocking way. "Wow…what were you aiming at?" I mocked, turning back to her. "You know, I don't think the gods are tangible things that you can hit," I commented as she began moving toward me.

The others soon followed my lead, distracting and mocking her, coercing her to follow us. She must've known it was trap; she's too smart to think otherwise.

"If you think putting this in water with rust it and allow you to win, you're sorely mistaken!" she yelled as we approached the bay, where Korra and the earthbenders had created a giant spoon of sludge, and were in the process of making a second one. I gripped the thing, and the other airbenders helped me carrying it, and as the metalbending police distracted her, we poured the muck all over the window. The metalbenders then tangled their cables together around the colossus's feet several times, causing it to start to tumble backwards.

I, on top, Korra, in the middle, and the other airbenders, on the bottom, all shot potent streams of air at the giant's chest, forcing it further backward as it was about to topple, but as we pushed it, water sprayed on the window, wiping off the sludge, and allowing her to get her footing by letting her see her surroundings.

"Damn it!" I yelled, sending a more potent stream. "Just fall over, would you?!"

However, now that it had gotten its foothold, it readied its canon at the airbenders, too fast for them to react. Instinctively, I stopped shooting the gust of wind, and instantly dropped to where they were, rushing in front of them as the canon fired, and I tested my earlier theory. I rapidly put my hands to my chest and then held them out against the beam.

The pain was enormous on my arms as I struggled to remain standing. Korra rushed to my aid. "You wouldn't make a very good waterbender!" she yelled as she mimicked my movement, and redirected the stream until it stopped firing. I dropped to my knees, exhausted.

Korra ran ahead, leaping into the air and entering the Avatar State, drawing towards her several rings of all four elements, soon, before Kuvira could fire again, bending them all into a spiraling beam of the elements, crashing right into the colossus's chest, and leaving a large dent.

"That makes two discoveries," Kanon commented as she helped me to a standing position. "You can bend spirit energy and she can hurt that thing."

Korra was about to do it again. "Wait!" I called, stopping her, making her glare at me. "If you hit the wrong spot then the giant will explode and everyone inside will surely die!"

"I don't care; the world won't be in balance so long as the spirits' power is being abused like this," she answered, with that dual voice she had last time she entered the State.

"Please, wait!" I flew up in front her, blocking her. "You can't!"

She returned to her normal self, keeping herself aloft with airbending. "And how, _exactly_ do you propose that we take this thing down otherwise?"

I was about to respond, when, she shot another spirit ray at us, forcing us to seek shelter. "Give me five minutes to talk sense into her."

"You've tried that, Yuuto," Tenzin reminded me.

"Then I'll convince her by force!" I snapped. "Please, I need to try and get those people of there. I don't want their lives on my conscious."

Korra contemplated this. "Why is it that you want so badly to face her?" her words echoed as Toph's nearly identical words did.

"I…I don't know, but it's just something that I have to do."

After a moment of deciding, she nodded. In that time, I had already come up with a plan that could work.

"Yes, thank you! Alright, Tenzin, I'll need your airbenders' help with this. I need you guys to fly way high into the air, like really high, and come down onto the canon before it fires on me."

"You know, I'm starting to think the bait tactic is all you know," Lin accused jokingly. "Then what?"

"Then I fly through the window. If it's glass, then it'll break easy enough, and if not, then…well, some rocks could help."

"We'll be ready in case you need them," Suyin promised.

"If Kuvira is controlling it directly, then she'll probably order her guys to guard it while you're inside; we'll offer all the help we can!" Kanon offered. "And if you need to throw them out, we'll catch them."

I turned to Korra. "Listen, this may be our only chance to do this. If I take too long; more than ten minutes to get her to back down, then assume the worst, okay? Whether I'm inside or not, I want you to destroy that thing outright so no one can ever misuse spirit energy again, alright?"

She gave me a steely gaze. "…Alright," she answered.

"Try not to keep us waiting," Kanon hit my arm playfully. "Be careful in there."

"I will," I promised, turning away and flying up to Kuvira. "Over here!" I yelled as I crossed my arms. The giant turned to me, revealing Kuvira and about five other soldiers manning it. "You know now that we have several counters to this colossus. I can stop your spirit ray, and Korra can destroy this thing."

"And? It doesn't mean you will and it's not like I'll target just the two of you."

"Cut it out with the smart-assing, will you? I'm sick and tired of your excuses!" I snapped. "Just get all of your men out of that machine so Korra can destroy it without any lives on her conscious."

"I'd rather die than submit to you!" she snapped back as her winged eyes lowered into a scowl.

"Fine, then I'll come in there and get you all out myself!" my arms fell to my sides as a wind came through, making my clothes flow. "But, of course, it's your move, after Korra started wrecking you. Go ahead, take your best shot. I've got a hundred yuans that says you won't," I mocked.

I heard another scoff, and then a roar of laughter. "How many times must I prove who will win in a dual?" she wondered to herself. "This makes, what, three times now that you've challenged me, and every time you've lost!"

"We'll see," was all I said as the giant's canon rose to just a few yards in front of me. I heard the faintest sound of airbending. "Go ahead; line up your shot real careful. You don't want to miss again," I mocked as I began to see a pink glow, and my heart started to pound.

Then, just as the pink became too bright to look at anymore, it disappeared with a loud thud as the airbenders came down onto the canon and forced it to shoot into the ground, much like I did at the demonstration.

My adrenaline kicked in as I burst forward, crashing through the window and tackling Kuvira, rolling, and throwing her across the room. In the confusion, I used my airbending to pick up the other men in the room, and threw them out of the window, trusting Kanon and the others to catch them and not let them go splat.

I tried to do the same with Kuvira, but then she used some of her metal plates to block the hole. "You…you, you, you, you, you, you, you!" she yelled repeatedly. "You tricked me!"

"Yeah, of course I did. You aren't going to conquer Republic City using human means; we're not going to play fair in taking you down…but enough tricks, enough excuses. Kuvira, we've won. You must see that. If you surrender now, I might be able to lessen your punishment, but-"

"No! It won't be over until _all_ of the Earth Empire is united and prosperous. None of this would have happened if you all had just been obedient!" she yelled.

"So this is how it's going to be…? Alright, if you want to fight so badly, then let's make it interesting, shall we?"

"Interesting?" she inquired.

"Sure; I'm a competitive guy. I propose a battle for the throne."

"…What?"

"You heard me; a battle to decide the ruler of the Earth Nation. Wu, as the next in line for the throne, already gave me his blessing, and you seem more than interested. If I can get you out of this mecha in the next fifteen minutes, you and the rest of the Earth Empire will serve me as a King, and if you can stay inside, then I'll get everyone, even Korra, to surrender to you and give you anything that you want. Not only that, but I'll also become fully loyal to you, never arguing and never wavering in my services to you."

"B-but-"

"Come on; it's a win-win for you," I lied. "If we're going to fight over the fate of the Empire anyway, why not add some incentive to give it your all?"

I heard a low growl from her. "…Fine! It's your funeral."

"Good, but I'll warn you; things will be different from last time."

"Tch, so you say!"

We both dashed toward each other, Kuvira sending two metal plates, one high and one low, toward me, which I had to dive in-between. As she went to bend another set, I grabbed her wrists and tossed her away, but she retaliated by sending a couple of levers at me, and then bringing the three control…gooey things, to her side. I guess they were metal rocks that she molded for controlling this machine, but I'm still not really sure.

She shot several gooies at me, trying to lock my wrists or something together, but I wasn't having any of that this time. I deflected all of her attacks, and went to attack, but as I prepared, she put up a preemptive shield, which I blasted away, with her following suite and slamming into some controls.

Before she could react, I lifted her up with my airbending, and slammed her into the ceiling, jumping up after her, and slamming her into it again before throwing her down. However, little did I realize, the ceiling was bendable, so she locked my torso down to it and dragged me across the ceiling.

I pressed my hands and feet to the surface I was against, and blasted with all I had, ripping through the metal, coming down and blasting her up into the air. As she landed, with us both on the center platform by the way, she tipped the odds in her favor so to speak, by literally tipping the platform, sending me up into the air where she shot me with her gooies again, just knocking me back outright. I flew around her until I could get a clear spot to land, and when I did, I didn't try to attack her, but instead focused on catching her gooies as she threw them, until I had all of them. Then I threw those out the window as well.

She didn't seem fazed however, as she sent one of the main control pillar into me, pushing me off the platform, but I still tossed it past me with my airbending. As I was about to retaliate, I felt the mecha shake, at first thinking it was because one of the main controls was missing, but then I realized that the group outside was toppling this thing over.

When I glanced outside, I saw large gashes on the building in front of us, and then it was pushed toward- no, pushed onto us, overpowering the sheer size and weight of the beast and making it fall over backwards, though the window was left surprisingly clear of debris.

We were both knocked around as the giant fell, but I saw one golden opportunity; one miracle of a shot that I didn't pass up. I airbent to right across from the window, and dashed forward as Kuvira came into my path, right out of the window, and right toward the ground. The speed we were falling at alone was enough to let me drag her several feet without any of my own strength providing the momentum, as the ground beneath her cracked under the impact, until I rolled forward and then threw her into some vines as I stood.

We were both panting as I straightened, and she was left as she was, injured and exhausted. "I win," I told her, causing her to grimace before, once again, going into a glare. Then I saw her eyes shift from me to behind me, and when I looked, I saw Korra in the Avatar State, sending a bigger version of the spiral she used earlier, drilling a hole, several holes actually, into the colossus, and then it glowed pink from the chest area before it finally exploded, and the gun was sent…actually not too far from there, into the spirit wild we were up against.

I turned back to Kuvira, who had a look of pure rage and aggression directed at me as she stood wearily.

"What was it again? 'History is written by the victors'?" I mocked her before she sent a bit of debris toward me, but I caught it in midair and sent it right back at her using only the wind, propelling her further into the wild. I followed to find her in the same position as the last, struggling to stand. We simply stared each other down for a while.

"Yuuto!" I heard Korra call, causing me to turn and see both her and Kanon running toward me. Kuvira took this opportunity to bend a slab of rock into me, knocking me back…right into Kanon. We tumbled backward, but as I was about to fall on her, I caught myself in a…let's say suggestive position. We both must've been bright red as we stared at each other in shock. I shook my head, refusing the let my mind wander as I stood and helped her up.

"Jeez! Keep me here longer and let Kuvira escape, will ya?" I scolded.

"Hey! Just because we were worried about you!" Korra retorted, both of us turning back to the spirit wild where Kuvira fled.

"Kanon," I started. "Go back and get the others; we'll meet you-"

"No way! You already almost died twice in the past half hour. I'm not letting you do it a third time when I can stay and make sure you don't do something stupid!" she said, grabbing my arm and dragging me in, with Korra following. Soon, I was forced into submission. "You aren't the only one who's dangerous here," she reminded me as I wrestled my arm free.

"Alright, alright, I get it."

We all approached a clearing the wilds. I hung back to survey the area as the two girls went ahead. Soon, I heard a low buzzing sound, and then the slightest pink glow. I ran toward the two girls. "Look out!" I yelled, diving into one of them.

When we both landed I saw Kanon, looking toward the spirit canon that was above us as we entered the clearing. Wait…why didn't I save Korra? She's who I devoted myself to; it should've been a no-brainer, right?

No time to think about it though, as we both burst up to help Korra, as she had already started on Kuvira. "Stop!" she called as the sprit vines reacted to the large amount of spirit energy being emitted. "You can't fire that in here, or else it'll-"

It was too late. The vines burst to life, and dashed toward the canon, knocking Kuvira clean off of the thing and sending it further down, blocking our exit. We all were busy dodging the vines, when the canon started up instinctively, not doubt reacting as the vines did, right at Kuvira, who was still recovering.

"No!" I yelled ran as fast as I could toward her, right as the beam shot out, I held my hands out, blocking the beam as I did before, but this time it was different somehow. I don't know if it was because the blast came point blank or whether it was because of the complete imbalance in spiritual energy in the spirit wild, but it almost felt like I was…absorbing the energy instead of just blocking it. I dropped to my knees, weak and feeling sick. "A little help here!"

Korra jumped in front of me, entering the Avatar State, and truly blocking it, causing the energy from the canon to fly out in every direction before causing a massive explosion of energy as the beam reached its maximum power before running out of juice. The explosion sent me and Kanon flying to the edge of the clearing, while a light enveloped Kuvira and Korra, and when it was gone, they were too.

I stumbled back to where they were, feeling as if I would hurl any minute. Actually, I _did_ puke, but that's not important.

Thinking about it afterwards, I'll say what I thought happened. Okay, so maybe what happened was that I absorbed the spiritual energy, but because only the Avatar, who was half-spirit, could do that, the energy had to instantaneously come out of me. That's what happened, actually. I dropped to my knees once again, and raised my head to the sky and spiritual energy erupted from my eyes and mouth. Hell, from my entire body, culminating right in front of me in a sphere which shot out a pillar of golden yellow light right into the sky.

The force exerted on my body made me go limp, falling from exhaustion and fatigue. I lay there facing the sky, seemingly hearing voices in my head; Kuvira's and Korra's, almost as if I were hearing the things they might be saying to each other, but they were fragmented, like a wall was separating us.

"_Why would you…thing I did to you…?"_

"…_See myself in you…"_

"…_Nothing alike!"_

"…_Both fierce…without thinking things through…"_

"…_Wasn't how I wanted…all just surrendered…never would have…"_

"…_On yourself…the spirit vines…like a dictator over your…wasn't right…"_

"…_Help my people!…Su turned her back on…you were gone!"_

"…_I get it now…"_

"…_don't understand anything…cast aside by my own parents…how could I…the same thing happen…when it needed someone…?"_

"…_Create a place where…never be vulnerable…not an orphan, but believe…know what it….be afraid…I was poisoned…done anything to feel in control…"_

That was all I heard before my thoughts were clouded by the sight on Kanon's face. My ears were numb, or ringing should I say, and her voice was at first blurry and distant as she put her head to my chest to feel a heartbeat. I watched her lips move, and words slowly form. "…Come on, you lazy bastard! Naptime is over! You need to get up!" she yelled in my face, slapping my face lightly several times, before I caught her hand.

I coughed a little. "I think…I think I'm alright," I said, my voice slightly gravelly. As I sat up, she embraced me tightly.

"Make that three times now, you stupid, stupid…" she trailed off, unable to finish berating me.

"I know…I'm sorry," I said honestly as other started coming into the new crater.

As they did, so did the spirits that once resided in the wild where this was. "The spirits have returned!" Tenzin cried happily before the moment was ruined as hundreds of mecha and soldier arrived.

"Stop right there! Under the name of the Great Uniter, you are all under arrest!"

I stood shakily, unready to face them, but still willing to try, before two figures walked out of the sphere, a new spirit portal. It was Korra, helping along an injured Kuvira, her hair having fallen down from its tight look, and now looking more unkempt and in disarray. She lightly pushed Korra away as I took an offensive stance, just in case.

As she came closer though, she stumbled. She would've fallen all the way to the ground had I not kneeled down and caught her, causing her men to aim their weapons and rocks at me. Kuvira pushed lightly on my chest as we both stood and she held her hand up to keep the soldiers from attacking. "These two…saved my life, and I owe them everything. The Avatar has power even our greatest technology couldn't compete with, and this man has the skill and the words to topple anyone. A deal is a deal," she admitted, half-falling onto one knee. "I offer myself to you for the rest of my life…" her voice caught for a moment, the next part coming out rather forced. "…My liege."

Slowly but surely, the soldiers kneeled down as well…to me…the sight of all these men bowing to me was enough to make my knees wobbly, but I remained adamant to keep standing.

I took a deep breath, trying to put in words what I wanted to do here and now, just to get it over with and save myself the headache later. "…From here on, the Earth Empire is abolished. The Earth Kingdom will return, but not as a monarch. I'm abolishing that as well. Instead, the Earth Kingdom will be divided into separate states, each with democratically elected leaders ala Republic City's President, along with another democratically elected leader to deal with national affairs. Each state will have its own government and military force, though for national crises…well, we can work that out later," I stopped speaking, letting the information sink in, though Suyin and Lin got a little preemptive, walking past me and grabbing Kuvira, putting her arms behind her back, about to be put into cuffs. "Wait!" I stopped them.

"Yuuto, this woman is going behind bars for terrorism. You can't-"

"Oh, I can!" I interrupted. "You heard her; she pledged herself to me, and therefore she's my responsibility. I'll see to it that she gets due punishment," I promised.

They both considered this for a moment, Suyin especially giving me an uneasy look. "If we get one word of trouble-" Lin started to threaten.

"There won't be, or else I'll be the one to get rid of her," I assured as they let go of her. Kuvira and I stood facing each other once again. From ally, turned enemy, turned now back to ally. "As for your punishment…you're going to serve under me as a bodyguard of sorts until you die. And if I die before you do, you'll spend the rest of your life in prison. Got it?"

"Y…Yes, sir."

I sighed. "…Good, now let's get you patched up," I said, wrapping one of her arms over my shoulder as we were both struggling somewhat to stand. It seemed we both had a bad leg now. "Come on, let's help each other," I urged her past the glaring crowds.

I helped take her all the way back to Air Temple Island, where I patched up our wounds and laid her to rest. I then got a bed for myself and took a load off.

The battle was over.

The next three weeks would prove to be very busy for the city. Instead of rebuilding downtown and around where the new spirit portal was, President Reiko just up and decided to expand the city to the border of the United Republic's territory.

Not only that, but celebration was in order. Air Temple Island, since the battle ended, hasn't seen a quiet moment. All of the airbenders have been busy setting up a party signaling the end of the conflict, in which all of the world leaders were invited, featuring a small band for music and a large dinner.

As for personal relations…things have been weird. Kanon and Ling have decided to stay in Republic City, living on Air Temple Island because Tenzin offered. Kuvira has been staying here as well, recovering her strength. As for Korra…well, remember the blush with Asami? Yeah, more of that had been happening, and it worried me. Not only that, but she seemed really melancholy in this free time as well, almost like she had been poisoned all over again. However, when I asked about it, she never answered; just said she had things to do and then left.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I saw them packed up and ready to leave the island. I decided against alerting them to my presence, and instead opted to follow them, seeing that they were going to the new spirit portal. As they were about to enter, I stopped them. "And where are you two going?" I questioned.

Korra looked at me with sad eyes, as if silently begging me to just leave without bothering them. Asami answered for her. "We're going to the spirit world for a…vacation…"

"Oh, okay. When will you be back?" I wondered, stuffing my hands into my pockets, my heart starting to pound a little.

"Well…that's the funny thing…we don't know," she answered before Korra stepped toward me.

"Listen, Yuuto. Can we talk? Privately?"

I nodded and followed her to the edge of the crater. "What is it?"

"Well…it just…feels like I'm not needed anymore."

I chuckled. "What're you talking about? You've helped stop every major threat that-"

"But that's the thing, every major threat was caused _by me_. Sure I stop them in the end, but there are lives lost, consequences beyond measure. I just…don't think the Avatar…is what the world needs right now. I'm giving up being the Avatar."

"…What?"

"You heard me, and since Asami always wanted to see the spirit world, I thought I'd take her on a full tour, for who knows how long; time flows differently inside there anyway. We may even settle down in there…" she trailed off, her voice wavering as her eyes became moist. "Look…I'm sorry, but I have to go…" she said, walking away. I grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, so are you…leaving me forever?" I asked.

"I…guess so…I'm sorry."

Instantly, the void reappeared. "So this is…goodbye?"

"For now…I'll try to come back and visit, once we get things settled…" she avoided my gaze. "Look, I know you must think that I'm a really horrible person for just abandoning you, but I've seen it."

"Seen what?"

"Seen the real person for you, the one who makes your heart race as it did for me, when we were young and naïve. The one who it'll race for forever."

"But…what about…" my voice caught as my vision got misty. I felt a couple tears roll down my cheeks. "…Alright, go ahead."

"W…what?"

"Go ahead…have fun; don't let me stop you," I said solemnly. It wasn't out of bitterness either; I genuinely wanted her to enjoy her life, because if nothing else she was my friend.

"W-Wait…before I go…" she put her thumbs to my chest and head, a bright blue light glowing between us. "Just in case I'm wrong and you can't reach me…I'll trust you and Tenzin and the others to take care of the world while I'm gone. Okay?"

I nodded, giving a half-hearted smile and urging her back toward her new partner, and they walked into the portal, holding their hands tightly…together.

I returned in a stupor, in shock; so much shock.

It seemed Kanon and Ling noticed this, and followed me all the way to my room, closing the door behind them. "Hey man; you okay?" Ling wondered as he walked up to me. My knees buckled, and I fell onto them, screaming at the top of my lungs in anguish.

"Whoa! What's wrong, man?" Ling held my shoulder while Kanon kneeled in front of me.

I buried my face in my hands as tears ran down it. "She just left! The only person who _couldn't_ leave just left!" I yelled.

"…Korra?" Ling wondered. Kanon probably nodded, but I was too disoriented to notice. "Look…so one girl got away, so what?"

"Without her in my life; without doing something _for_ her, I can't fly. I can feel it! Everything I had to call my own is gone!"

Kanon simply hugged me, offering what comfort she could as I tried to cope. Slowly, my breathing returned to normal. "You know…for someone who did so much, you sure can be a crybaby," Kanon joked, bring just the slightest hint of a chuckle from me.

"Heh…I guess you're right," I agreed. I stood shakily, as I had done much of in the pass time. "Alright…guess there's no point in dwelling on it. Time to move on. Thanks for…listening to my bullshit, guys," I said.

"No problem; anytime," Ling assured me. "It's just a shame she couldn't stick around for the party."

Oh yeah, the party. It was nice, though I'll admit that I was still melancholy throughout most of it. I gave my thanks to those around me, especially to Tenzin, Izumi, and Suyin, and then I thanked Korra, though she wasn't there. Afterwards I repeated what I had said about the new state of the Earth Kingdom, about the independent state thing, and I let the others do their little speech, though I myself was thanked several times for accomplishments…well, I just thought they came with the job. I mean, what else am I getting paid for right?

Like when Bolin made mention of how I single-handedly blocked the spirit ray, I said "By the way, Tenzin, you still owe me fifty yuans for saving you guys," getting a roar of laughter and excited "oohs" as if I were challenging him, but he simply patted me on the back, happy to see me not entirely depressed over Korra's leave.

Once the dancing and music actually started, I elected to sit out. I wasn't a dancer by any means, and neither was Ling apparently. We sat beside each other, just…talking. About useless stuff really, but it was relaxing and a breath of fresh air over the heavy stuff I had been discussing with Reiko over the division of the Earth Kingdom not a few hours before.

Then he gestured away from us. "Hey look," he said, making me look at Kanon, who looked wonderful with her make-up off and her hair free and her dress flowing. "Go ahead and ask for a dance."

"Yeah right; I wouldn't want to ruin the dress," I joked. "Why don't you do it?"

"I'm not the romantic-type," he answered kicking back in his seat.

"Yeah, you're the bum-type, right?" I teased, garnering a light tap on the arm. "Alright, alright, I'll go," I said defeated as I stood up. I began to approach Kanon and the dance floor, when suddenly, something caught my eyes.

When I looked, I saw a silhouette of Kuvira against the light of the new spirit portal. It was curiosity more than anything that drew me toward her. "Well, it's good to see that your recovery is going well," I said as I walked to beside her.

"Yes, it is," she replied curtly. A silence fell over us. "...Yuuto-"

"Here, before you start, I need to get some things off of my chest. So…we've known each other a little over six months? Maybe? Anyway, once we turned on each other, I'd been asked time and time again what drew me back to you, why I felt this burning desire to try and put you on the righteous path when I had simply defeated my other foes. I couldn't really answer it until I heard you and Korra talking in the spirit world. Now…it was fuzzy, but I think I've got the gist. What this is all leading up to is, I saw me in you. Three years ago, I had to make a decision that would forever change the course of my development and ideals; whether or not to kill Zaheer once I had beaten him. I didn't because of Korra's words to me, about how I could easily become an extremist if I were to go to such lengths. I think…you as the Great Uniter would have been me if I had killed Zaheer on that day. I would've been obsessed with…control and security and purity and maybe I would've been the one piloting that giant mecha; I don't know, but…I know that that isn't the right path, for either of us. So I'm asking you, as a friend and not as a boss or whatever. Will you allow me to help you, to guide you and let you guide me, keeping us on the righteous path?"

Kuvira didn't answer for a long time. I shifted on my feet a few times before she finally answered "Okay." I jumped for joy, almost anyway, as I hugged her, finally able to get through to her and she was willing to listen! I could see a bright future ahead for both of us…well…actually, let's not ruin the surprise. Anyway, once I had let go of her, I saw Kanon watching us two. "Um…ahem…yes?" I asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me."

"With me? Oh no, I can't dance and I wouldn't want to-" I was about to repeat the excuse I gave Ling.

"Oh come on; it'll be fun. I promise I won't let you step on my dress."

I sighed. "Ling?"

"Ling," she replied, awaiting an answer. I looked to Kuvira, for approval to just leave her at the party.

She waved it off. "Hey, I'm not your boss, and I promise I won't get jealous, as if I'd be so shallow," she assured, turning back toward the portal as Kanon dragged me to the dance floor.

The dancing was actually pretty fun and exhilarating at times. It was almost like flying…but not quite, and no my flight didn't come back then either, in case you were wondering if that was me messing with you or not. Even still though…I didn't feel a void, which was the greatest feeling in the world, and I wasn't even thinking about it at the time. I just knew that standing there, my hands on Kanon's waist and her arms around my neck…I was content, if for nothing than this brief moment where I didn't have a thing to worry about.

Kanon and I stayed that way until we were the last ones of the dance floor, and by then, neither of us wanted to leave the other's side, so we found a nice spot by the beach. "I'm…sorry…" I said.

"For what?"

"For never paying you back…for helping me in the Fire Nation? I never gave you your flight."

"Oh, don't worry about it…" she said, leaning into me as we both sat. "It's nothing I can't feel on an airship."

"Well…I beg to differ, but whatever helps you sleep at night. Is there anything I can do though?"

"Well…" I saw her cheeks go red as she looked at me. "You could do one thing for me."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Stay with me…forever…?"

I smiled. Those were exactly the words I wanted to hear as a man with heart ache, and from someone I actually like back. It may not be as powerful now as it was with Korra, but I guarantee that if we keep at it, then it'll be stronger than anything. "Of course…always…hey Kanon…can you sing to me?"

She smiled too, both of us lying down on the sand, as she began to hum with that beautiful vibrato voice.

Epilogue:

We were both kneeling, Ling and I, with hoods over our heads though for me it wasn't really necessary, as I had chosen to keep my hair. "And so, I commemorate two new bearers of the title of Airbending Master!" he called, pulling down our hoods, with us standing and sliding off the concealing robes that hid our new tattoos. Ling had opted to shave his head while I decided to just have the tattoo my forehead and then rest of my body other than my hair. We looked to each other.

Opal walked up to me, offering us both wingsuits. "I think you'll need these."

Ling took his, while I refrained. "Sorry, but I prefer a good glider, and a trusty wind sword," I said.

A while later, they gave me the custom glider I had asked for, ones with the symbol of the Avatar, as well as the four elements on the wings.

I wrote an inscription on this one too. "In loving memory; to those lost, to those close, and to those distant. May their spirits be free to fly; fly high and soar in the distant blue of the endless possibilities in the horizon."

When the ceremony ended, I didn't waste any time walking up to Tenzin to request something very important. "Listen, I know this may seem like it's out of left field, but it's really just something I want to do, just in case something happens and-"

"Yuuto, it's fine, just out with it!"

I took a deep breath, grinning as I said it.

"I want to master the other elements."

**Author's Note:**

**The video should be up son, for realsies this time, I double-promise, okay? I'll be addressing a lot about the creative decisions made for this arc and stuff, so be sure to check it out sometime over Memorial Day weekend, if you live in America, and if not, then this weekend!**

**Thank you _all_ for reading, please leave a review to help me get better and my god and I happy how this turned out! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**

**P.S. this story will be going on an indefinite hiatus. Now, I know exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I got a little burnout, so I'm taking a break from the Avatar world for a bit. It could be until next weekend or until my summer vacation is halfway over, but I promise that I will finish. Look in the first chapter for updates as to when I think I'll be posting for it again.**


	35. 35 Deal

"You want to what?" Tenzin furrowed his brow. "Yuuto, I think it's fantastic that you can simply control another element, but to master them is on a whole other level. It could take…years, decades to do this."

"Which is why I want to start now," I replied. "I'm already the second-best airbender here, better than little Jinora at least," I claimed, to which the teenager airbent onto my shoulders.

"I heard that, flyboy!" the teen stated, her expression a little cross, but mostly playful. "Anyway, what are you guys talking about?"

"I want to master the other elements, starting with fire."

"Alright, now that's definitely out of the question. If you're going to master the elements, you're going to do it right, and going from air to fire is the opposite of right," Tenzin said. "If you're going to be our new Avatar by choice, you're going to accept everything about it."

"Yeah well, I'm not exactly the Avatar, so why do I need to follow the Avatar's rules?"

"Well, I mean-"

"If you want to learn firebending, you could ask Lord Zuko, right? Or maybe General Iroh?" Jinora offered.

"Hm…both of them are pretty busy. Besides, Zuko is old as dirt, so I don't-" Tenzin whacked the back of my head, which in turn knocked Jinora onto the ground.

"Please show a little more respect, Yuuto."

"Alright fine, but you get my point. Do you know about any other teachers I could ask?"

"That depends on what you're looking for."

"I'm looking for the best firebender in the world."

"Well…" Tenzin struggled to think of anyone. "I would say that Iroh Sr. is the best, but he left us some time ago. Other than that, Fire Lord Izumi is most likely the most able firebender currently, but she doesn't have the time to teach you. Then there's Mako, and-"

"What about me?" the man asked as he walked up to us.

"Yuuto is looking for someone to teach him firebending."

"You know, I'd be happy to, but I'm busy as a cop, plus I'm more tuned to pro-bending style firebending, and you really shouldn't learn that first. Sorry," he stated as he walked away.

I drooped my shoulders. "Great…well, I do know one person who might be able…" I said bashfully.

"Really? Who?"

"Well, I met him when I went to the Fire Nation for Korra. He kinda…was part of the Red Lotus, and-"

"You can't be serious. You do know what those people are willing to do, right?"

"Not everyone in the Red Lotus is evil," I retorted. "You'd know if you met him," I crossed my arms. "Even air against fire, I couldn't beat him. He's the kind of firebender I want teaching me."

Tenzin weighed my options before he replied. "Yuuto. I'm not your teacher, and I have other responsibilities other than you. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I do strongly advise that you reconsider your decision; at the very least to bring a bodyguard or two."

"I've got that covered," I stated, patting the older man on the shoulder. "I'll keep in touch; promise."

He nodded and we parted ways. I soon found Kanon and Kuvira, and I let them know about my plans. Kanon was, obviously, all for the idea.

"Are you some kinda moron?!" she yelled once I told them. "He tried to kill us!"

"Well, I know, but-"

"Not to mention the fact that he's guarded by at least five guards, so even if we wanted to get him out, which we _don't,_ we wouldn't be able to without becoming criminals ourselves."

"I could always ask Izumi," I offered. "She _does_ owe me a favor or two, don't you think?"

"Well you…I…" Kanon let out of heavy sigh before shaking her head and closing her eyes. "I knew you were handful, but this is a new level of recklessness," she said to herself before looking at me again. "Fine, but I'm coming too."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm going to be there when he 'teaches' you to make sure he doesn't kill you."

"So…you're going to train with me then?"

"If you want to think about it that single-mindedly, then yes, I will."

"Cool! Kanon, you're the best!"

The girl grinned. "And don't you forget it!"

With that, we headed off. On the boat ride there, I practiced switching to the other two elements besides fire and air, which would be earth and water if you can't figure it out.

I found earth to be relatively simple to switch to, but water gave me a lot of trouble. I found that it took me days to even feel that part of me emerge from within, if you will, and even when I felt the shift, it just wouldn't stay put long enough for me to be able to bend. Every time I managed to switch to it, I would be able to maybe move a puddle a couple inches before my body would literally collapse. When I was able to bend again, I would find that I moved back to a different, more familiar, element like fire. Eventually, I just gave up.

Anyway, once we arrived on land, we realized one crucial flaw in our plan. "Uh…guys…I forgot to pack extra food," I scratched the back of my head.

"Then we leave what we have here and feast at the palace," Kuvira reasoned.

"Sounds good to me," Kanon agreed.

"Speaking of, Yuuto, you said that you can bend earth now as well?"

"Well…I think so? I haven't been able to try because we've been, you know, on a boat and all," I said as I switched to said element. "So just…stomp my foot, right?"

"More or less."

Slowly and surely, I took a position, concentrating on the ground, trying to feel it like a true earthbender would, before quickly shifting and stomping my foot to it and lifting a large rock into the air. I then proceed to send it flying away.

After processing that I had just earthbent, I jumped up in joy. "Yes! I'm the greatest," I said while in the air, though as soon as I landed, Kuvira shifted the ground underneath me and sent me straight to the ground.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now," she said nonchalantly as she started down the road, with Kanon following her laughing.

"You're gonna get it now!" I called up to them as I broke into a run after them, with them running away, all of us with huge grins on our faces.

We made it to the Fire Lord's Palace within about a day's time, with us waltzing straight in.

"Hey there!" I greeted cheerily, though the guards immediately aimed their weapons at us, specifically at Kuvira. "Whoa, whoa, hey! Let's calm down here," Izumi raised her eyebrow, though said nothing as she raised her hand to ease off the guards. "Thank you, Fire Lord Izumi," I bowed, as did the other two. "I came to ask a favor."

"Before you do, would you mind telling what you were thinking bringing _her_ along with you?" she pointed to Kuvira.

The woman stepped forward. "This may not mean much, your lordness, but I regret every moment of what I did, and I hope to recompense via service to Yuuto."

"…If Yuuto trusts you, then I suppose I can tolerate you here for a few moments."

"Thank you, Fire Lord Izumi," Kuvira stepped back.

"Now that that's settled, my favor."

"Yes?"

"Well, this might sound a little…dangerous, but I request the release of Sakeme from the Red Lotus."

"You what?"

"I request the release of-"

"I know what you said; I'm asking why."

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. "Well, I kinda…need a firebending teacher, and he's all I got. You're Fire Lord, Iroh is in the military, Mako sucks, and Zuko is also busy."

"You mastered airbending on your own, why not do the same with firebending?"

I took a deep breath, shifting my attitude to one a bit more serious. "Because mastering airbending on my own took over three years. I want to get this done as soon as possible so I can start mastering the other elements. Believe me, if I had any other conceivable options, I wouldn't be doing this. But I want to be prepared, for anything. Now that I'm just free to do what I want, I want to master the other elements, and then weed out every single member of the Red Lotus in the world so they can't pose a threat anymore."

"…" Izumi didn't respond at first, but instead turned to her daughter. "…Are you in favor of this as well?"

"No, I'm not," she answered truthfully. "But his mind is set, so I'm going to be there to make sure he's not in over his head. That's also why she's here," Kanon put a hand on Kuvira's shoulder.

Izumi nodded. "Yuuto, this is the only 'favor' I'm granting you, and it's a dangerous one at that. Do you realize this?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then I suppose…" she sighed. "I'll send word to his prison. You may go there and request his help," We all nodded and started to exit the chambers. "Oh, and Yuuto."

"Yes?"

"You might want to hide a certain someone's face. If not, you'll draw some unwanted attention."

I nodded and then we truly exited. Once we exited, I groaned. "Jeez, I didn't even think about whether or not he would say no," I admitted.

"I'd say anything is better than a Fire Nation prison, even if it means putting up with you," Kuvira claimed.

"I heard that, Rock-For-Brains," I said as we set off toward the prison.

When we arrived, we were all led toward his chamber. It, like Zaheer's was designed in such a way that it was closed at all times.

"Hey guys, if you don't mind, I want to talk with him alone."

"I'd advise against it. Unlike Zaheer, he still has his bending," Kuvira said.

"Even still…I think this is just something I have to do."

With a little reluctance, they both agreed, and I entered the room.

Sakeme was sitting with his back facing me, his hands completely encased in metal, same with his feet, to keep him from bending.

I took a couple steps forward, trying to find a good starting line. I sighed.

"You know, I never thought I'd have visitors, let alone the man responsible for putting me in this hellhole," he said suddenly.

"How'd you know it was me?" I wondered.

Sakeme hesitated, probably just for dramatic effect, before plopping down onto his back with his hands behind his head as a pillow. "You always were pretty loud; I heard you through the door."

"Oh, bite me," I said as I sat down behind him.

"So why is it that you came by? Not just for a chat I suppose?"

"Actually, I've requested your release."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "Interesting, I thought I was the enemy."

"Yeah, well at the very least, I still owe you that rematch."

"And at the very most?"

"If it's possible, I'd like you to teach me firebending," I asked. "Me and Kanon."

"And you'd trust me to do that?"

"Sure, why not?"

"…I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. Anyway, about your offer; when I'm done teaching you, will I just be thrown back in here?"

"Not if you behave yourself."

"You're saying it like I was a naughty child…"

I crossed my arms. "No, I'm serious. Once you finish teaching Kanon and I, you're free to do what you want; it's your life after all."

Sakeme considered his options, though, as he probably realized, there was only one clear option.

He nodded. "Alright, it's a deal then. I train you, then we duel."

"Deal."

**Author's Note:**

**...Hi guys...remember how I said like at the beginning of summer...? Any then remember how I made the update and said like two weeks...which was two months ago?...**

**Yeah...let's start this over...**

**Hey guys! Sorry about the really long wait between uploads, but I literally got so distracted from this story by Black Fairy, it's sequel, some original stuff, and...well...Your Lie In April, Anohana, Blast to Tempest, Grave of the Fireflies, the Flash tv series, Arrow season 2, Metroid Zero Mission *takes deep breath*...Kingdom Hearts 2.5, Avengers 2, replaying KH: COM, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Competitive Team Building, catching a shiny motherf***ing Maril with huge power for an ability, Blaze Black, Light Platinum, Dark Rising, Snakewood, Randomizers, and everythin from here bakc to ORAS was just Pokemon stuff, plus I've been working on a Pokemon fic that going to be all serious and make you think and stuff and...**

***sigh***

**I hate having ADHD...haha, no I don't.**

**Anyway, don't expect there to be many regular updates because I'm literally uploading these as I write them. Like literally, usually I have five to ten in storage to be uploaded and right now I only have the next two, so...that's a little scary.**

**Nonetheless sorry again for the long wait, but now it's finally returned!**

**Yayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayay!**


	36. 35 It Begins

It took another couple of days to reach the coast again, so we had to camp out the nights, too broke to afford a hotel; you can blame mine and Kanon's forgetfulness for that. These days were relatively peaceful, everyone seemed to tolerate each other relatively well, except for Kanon to Sakeme, though he didn't seem to mind. I guess he just understood.

Anyway, I said the days were good, and they were, but the nights are where I saw things get rocky. I wasn't actually awake to tell the tales, but I'll do my best.

Alright, so for everyone the nights were smooth, everyone except Kuvira that is. She had been waking up repeatedly, always sweating and panting; a nightmare's symptoms. Around two or so in the morning, after about the third time she'd woken up in one night, a new record for her, she got up and left, wanting to walk off these feelings of uncertainty welling up inside her.

Finding that walking didn't help, she stopped at a nice hill about a hundred, maybe 150, feet from the campsite. She sat staring at the remaining stars, and especially the moon. During the Earth Empire's reign, she'd come to rely on the moon to calm her nerves. She felt it was the only solid thing in this world, never wavering, always there, even if she couldn't see it.

But now, staring at it, she resented it. It only reminded her of her mistakes, taunting her as a permanent reminder of all of those nights spent worrying over what would become the biggest failure of her entire life. She sighed, opting instead to focus on the dew forming on the grass.

Then, she heard footsteps. She didn't bother turning around, expecting to hear Yuuto's voice to try and talk to her. She'd come to realize that he was a good guy, but she also thought he was a bit arrogant in that he thought he could solve everything.

However instead, Sakeme simply walked up and sat next to her. He didn't say anything, but it was clear that that was more comforting than any words. He didn't have to know what was troubling her right now, he didn't have to know what the nightmare entailed, he just had to be there, to remind her that she wasn't alone in making mistakes. Even Yuuto couldn't give her that.

Hours past and the moon disappeared. Finally Sakeme asked "What gets you up so early?"

It took her a long time to answer. "…Just a nightmare," she replied. He nodded, not wishing for her to elaborate more. Sighing, she stood. "We should get back to the others. They'll be waking soon."

He nodded once again, following her back to the camp, where still nothing stirred. The fire that had burned the previous night was reduced to simple embers, slowly billowing into the atmosphere.

I woke about an hour after that. The two weren't talking, and the sun was high enough in the sky to light up everything. "So, how long were you two awake?" I asked while yawning.

"Not long," Kuvira lied.

"Got it. We should get moving," I said as I stood. I nudged Kanon a bit, who simply turned away from me. "Kanon, this is our last day. You can sleep all you want on the boat," I promised.

"Five more minutes…?" she mumbled. I sighed.

"The faster we get there, the faster we get to go back to bed. Come on," I tugged on her limp arm as the others chuckled. "Kanon."

She moaned a little and pulled her arm away. "Just carry me or something," she said quietly. I sighed once again as she offered her arms out to me. I pulled her to a standing position and turned around, kneeling down, allowing her to hop into a piggyback ride.

When I looked, Sakeme was stifling a laugh. "Let's just…get moving," I said, defeated by the woman's antics.

As I said, we made it back to the boat by dark, where all of our supplies were, which meant a feast that night, relatively anyway. We really should've packed heavier, but we weren't exactly taking that into account when we left.

And then, in another few days, we made it back to the Southern Water Tribe, and once we got there, we immediately left to go back to Air Temple Island to offer a more suitable climate for firebending. Now once we got _there_, we finally began our training. "So, what's our first lesson?" I asked, perhaps a bit too excited.

Sakeme raised an eyebrow. "Stop jumping up and down like a giddy schoolgirl," he ordered. "Then, we'll start with a little discussion."

"Huh?"

"The physical side of firebending is great and all, but there are more important things. You need to know why you're learning, what your drive is, that's how you get the fire to come out of your fist," he explained. "I learned firebending to be a hero; I wanted to save people. That was my goal when I first learned that I could firebend, and then I also got earthbending, which messed everything up and…Yuuto knows the rest. The point is that I always had a drive. Yuuto. You go next," he said, sitting down, with us following in suit.

"Well, I had devoted myself to Korra when I learned how to firebend. I guess that was my drive, but since then…I've just wanted to learn and become a master and be prepared for anything that might come along."

Sakeme nodded and then we looked to Kanon. She shook her head. "I could never firebend," she admitted. "I never had a 'drive' or whatever. The only time I really firebent is using a breath attack thing, and that was only on instinct to protect my friend," she gestured to me.

"I remember," Sakeme said. "It was at me. Anyway, what about since then? Have you picked it up at all?"

She shook her head once again, giving Sakeme as steely gaze, as if daring him to insult her. He simply scratched the back of his head. "Alright Yuuto, take five, or…more than that actually."

I frowned and furrowed my brow. "What?"

"You're ahead of her. It doesn't seem fair to have you showing off if she's struggling," he said, shooing me away. Kanon looked to me for comfort, but all I could offer was a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder before taking my leave to maybe practice earthbending or whatever.

"Listen, I don't deny that you're a great firebender and all, but I really…don't like you, and I've tried a lot of times to get a drive, so maybe we could just-"

"No, you listen," he interrupted. "I don't need to be an energybender to tell that there's still a lot of turmoil going through you. I don't know why it's there, but it can't be a distraction."

"But…what do you know?" she retorted, glaring at him. "You don't even know me!"

"Do I know you? No. Can I read you? Yes, quite easily. Listen to me; firebending is pure passion and drive forced out into the physical world as fire. The reason you can't firebend, and because you only firebent that one time, is because you only have passion about anything when it's your only option, like when firebending was your only option in saving Yuuto that time."

"Alright, I'll humor you, how do you suppose I become passionate?"

"That's up to you. I can't force you to become passionate and I can't teach you to become passionate; it has to come from within. Look at Yuuto, he is passionate about everything he does, even if it's…I don't know, eating the entire menu at a noodle joint in Republic City."

"…I think you're spouting bull."

Sakeme let out a frustrated sigh before considering a different option. "Yuuto!" he called over to me. I approached.

"Yeah, what is it? Do you need me to- whoa!" I ducked under an arc of fire shot by our teacher. Sakeme quickly sprang into action knocking me to the ground with another blast before I could react and pinned me there, holding a fire jet to my face. Instead of fighting back, I decided to let this play out.

"Get away from him! I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Kanon leapt to her feet.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sakeme inquired. "You can't lightningbend fast enough to stop me from burning right through his windpipe."

Kanon lowered her gaze into a glare, shaking uncontrollably before bursting forward, jets of fire arcing behind her as she spewed a ray of flames from her mouth straight toward us.

I rolled out of the way before Sakeme diffused the blast. As I stood, he patted me on the shoulder. "Thanks, you can go back to whatever you were doing now."

"Jeez, psycho…" I muttered as I left.

"Ha! He kicked your ass once again," Ling, who'd come outside to watch, mocked me, to which I got into a small tussle which abruptly ended.

Sakeme approached Kanon who was still shaking.

He put his hand on his hip. "Well? Still think I'm spouting bull?" he asked as he raised his eyebrow. "Listen, Kanon, I know you don't trust me, but you're going to have to listen to me for the time being. I was taught that people grow either through inspiration or desperation. If I have to push you to desperation, then I will, because I can see in your eyes that you want to grow. Right now, at this very moment, you have a fire in your eyes, fire that's burning holes in me. Use it! Use Yuuto as your drive! Think of him at his weakest, at death's door, use it!"

"Shut up!" she yelled back.

"Do it, now!"

In a blind rage, she shot her fist forward and a potent stream of flames arced out from it. I was watching from the sidelines, and as I saw the light show, I clapped, smiling.

Kanon was exhausted, dropping to her hands and knees and panting. I went up to her and knelt beside her, patting her shoulder. "Very nicely done!" I congratulated her.

"It wasn't bad, for a first attempt," Sakeme admitted. "Just do what I told you, do exactly what you just did, and you'll be a great firebender."

"R-really?" she wondered. "That was so…tiring though…"

"Okay, well 'great' is a strong term; you'll at least be able to light a match. That's all I promise."

"Oh, piss off!" she snapped before both of them, strangely, cracked a smile.

"Alright, then we're ready to continue. Yuuto, I'm going to re-teach her the basics. You take a load."

"Actually, I'd like to have a few words with him," Tenzin seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind me and grabbed my ear.

"Wha-"

"Now," Tenzin pulled and dragged me into the kitchen.

"Hey! What gives?"

"Nothing really; dramatic effect," Tenzin joked. "In all seriousness though, I need to know something."

"What?"

"President Reiko has heard of your favors and your deals; having two terrorists this close to Republic City isn't a smooth political sign for him."

"So what? You're kicking us out?"

"No, I could never turn away anyone who needs a place to stay, however I will warn you. If they ever enter the city, President Reiko wants them in your sight at all times."

I nodded, understanding completely. "Got it," I said as I began to walk back out.

"And Yuuto, another thing, this time from me."

"What is it?"

"I'm curious as to what you're going to do."

"When?"

"When you're satisfied with your training. I'm only curious as to where you want to go next. You could travel the world; see its sights."

"I'd rather find some way to be useful. I mean," I gestured outside to the four people outside. "I've suddenly got myself a team, people I can trust to help me. We've got to be able to do something, right?"

"Yes, a band of misfits seems to be a powerful force should their bonds be strong enough, as was the case with Avatar Aang."

"I told Fire Lord Izumi that I'd hunt down the Red Lotus, but to be perfectly honest I haven't the slightest idea of where to start…" I admitted.

Tenzin put a hand on my shoulder. "Tell you what; don't worry about it yet. You'll find something else to put your passion and talent into. For now, focus on your training."

I nodded again, this time more confidently. "Thank you, Master Tenzin."

"Same to you, Master Yuuto."

**Author's Note:**

**Hi there! So if you're really not into the whole philosophy thing or whatever you want to call this stuff, the next chapter will be the last. PRomise on my life I do.**

**Anyway, don't forget to review and stuff; it's always a welcome sight! See ya next time!**


	37. 37 Guardian

"Hey Kanon, you wanna learn earthbending with me too?" I had asked her one day.

"No," she said back before we resumed firebending with each other.

And that was the end of that.

* * *

Three months later…

I awoke peacefully. I just slouched up, shuffled to the bathroom, did my business, and entered the kitchen of Air Temple Island…only to have the ground beneath me rocket me into a ceiling-face-plant.

I landed hard on my rear and glared up at Kuvira. "Not cool, man…" I moaned as I rubbed my cheek.

"You're late," was all she said. "Earthbending is about discipline, something which you're not showing."

I didn't respond, just grumbled under my breath as Kanon giggled.

"Now you know what I've had to deal with for the past-" Sakeme started.

"Yeah, I get it," I interrupted him. "Can I just eat in peace?" I asked, rubbing my sore side from when Kanon kicked me yesterday.

"Breakfast was an hour ago," Tenzin commented. "And you know how Pema gets with the food stock."

"Don't worry, fly-boy. I saved you something," Kanon tossed me an apple.

"Much obliged, Kyoshi Warrior," I said before I took a big bite, soon stuffing the entire thing down my throat. "Anyway, Tenzin, you seem to have let up with having Kuvira on Air Temple Island."

"Yes, it seems you've ironed-out her more…" Kuvira eyed him. "Totalitarian ideals, into more socially acceptable ones."

"And I for one am honored to be allowed anywhere close to Republic city again, even if only in hiding," Kuvira added. "Not to mention, I find it amusing when the children have their way with you, Yuuto."

"Okay, just because I lost _one_ air-scooter race to Meelo, doesn't mean-"

"In any case, are you done with your morning routines yet?"

"Actually, I am," I said back, following her outside and sitting across from her.

"Now then; let's start with a dialogue."

"Of course."

"With this being your third element out of four, it's important to know the difference between them. I was taught to separate your understanding of them using their different characteristics, physical and spiritual."

"Um…okay?"

"Allow me to explain. Each element is tied to a physical and spiritual factor, or, if you want to think of it this way, a factor of activity and one of attitude. These factors are active and passive for activity and aggressive and tranquil for attitude. For example, air would be tranquil passive. It remains relatively calm if let on its own, save for the occasional wind storms, making it tranquil, and it always stays in one spot relative to us; the sky, therefore making it passive."

"So then fire would be aggressive active, right? Using your logic, fire is wild and violent if not kept under watch, and it's active because it spreads and changes from inner energy to outward heat from firebenders, and from there to the surroundings."

"That's correct. Water would then be tranquil active. It, like air, remains relatively calm, but unlike air, water is all around us; in the soil, the ocean, in the clouds, sometimes pouring down onto us. This leaves us with earth, aggressive passive."

"More like passive aggressive Kuvira…" I muttered with a snicker, to which I was propelled up into the sky and landed hard. "I deserved that."

"Earth is a stable element. However, instead of growing and being violent itself, it is a unique element in that it can allow others to do so. Earth is the most prominent in our lives by far. We need it to live on, we need it to breathe, we need it for everything."

I nodded, standing. "I understand."

"No, you don't. I can feel it. Before I will teach, you must obtain a connection, a solid point to focus on to gain that connection."

"And…how do I do that?"

"That…" she patted my shoulder. "Is for you to figure out. I'll check back in an hour," she said as she left. I slouched over.

"Great…" I mumbled before I sat back down, rubbing my hand along the dirt. "Connection, connection…" Like a spiritual connection? Or maybe like a physical connection; you need to constantly be in contact with the ground to earthbend, right? But I'm on the ground as it is, so that's out.

What about when I could fly; that was a connection, right? A connection with the sky, sure, but a connection nonetheless, and a powerful one at that. Maybe it was _that_ kind of connection.

I tried to pull the same part of myself out that unlocked that power, to gain this little link to what I need. I folded my legs into a meditative position, and closed my eyes, trying to think. "Connection…"

"Whatcha doin'?" Kanon's voice interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see her just inches from my face. Only now did I realize that her full weight was on my shoulders, and that she was hand-standing on them.

I didn't respond, as something within me clicked. I don't know how this clicked, but it did. A connection, not a physical or spiritual one, but an emotional one, just like I had with Kanon; I needed to connect with Mother Earth herself. I then focused on that, soon feeling a small tug in my gut. I stood and stomped my bare foot onto the ground, with a large stone slab erupting from the ground. I did this with little resistance from the earth itself. I was forcing the earth to my will, and it wasn't fighting back. I then kicked the ground into itself, sending a rock line away from me, and ending with a sphere of earth rising, ready to be shot forward at great force. However, my practice was cut short.

"Yuuto!" Jinora called from the building. "Trouble in the city, one of the center Spirit Wilds!"

I instantaneously changed my mindset, back into the 'by Raava I have to stop the mecha' mode except now it's a 'gotta stop some punk who thinks he's stronger than a mecha' kinda thing.

The other three of the group came out, Kuvira wearing a thin cloak over her usual clothing. "What's…?"

"Fire Lord Izumi suggested I shield my face; to avoid unnecessary attention, remember?"

"And no one here knows my face," Sakeme stated. "Let's go."

I nodded, getting onto a boat and sailing over, after grabbing our equipment of course. Once we got close to the "trouble" it wasn't that hard to find. People were crowding around the wild while Republic City Police were holding them back. Lin was already at the scene.

"What's wrong?" I questioned immediately upon getting there, my team behind me. Lin didn't answer, just gave me a weird look. "You remember me this time, don't you?"

"But I don't remember your posse. Can they be trusted?"

"On my life," I stated. "Now what's wrong? Is it like when Kuvira messed up the balance?"

"Oh no, it's-" the ground shook slightly, causing the cars to hop. Slowly, a massive black form stumbled out of the wild. "No, it's a lot worse," she said casually before turning to her men. "Get all civilians out of here!" she ordered, everyone having scattered upon seeing the monster.

I leapt back from getting stepped on by the thing. "Ling, on me!"

"Got it!" he yelled as we both sent out a blast of sound to push it back. I then ran the other way and picked up speed before extending my glider and taking off, landing on the building next to it. "What the hell is this thing?" I wondered to myself as I watched Sakeme and Kuvira pummel it with rounds of fire and earth, while Kanon retreated back to a wire in the street and siphoned its power into her own lightning. It looked…evil…

Suddenly, the three airbending children were behind me. "Oh no…" Jinora covered her mouth.

"What?"

"The spirits are turning dark again," she claimed. "But by what? Vaatu was destroyed, wasn't he?"

I shook my head, focusing on the task at hand. "It doesn't matter, we need to keep this thing from destroying the city," I stated as I leapt off with my glider, landing on top of it. I was only on it for a few moments though, as I leapt up behind it and swung downward as I descended, sending a slicing current of air through it, but it only got split apart and reformed again.

I let out a frustrated grunt as I took off with my airbending and plunged a hole through it via diving, reuniting myself with my teammates, joining in pummeling it with rounds of our respective elements. "Nothing's working!" Sakeme called over the noise.

"I can tell!" I called back, pushing Kuvira out of the way of its foot and then diving the other way along with my firebending teacher. "Push it back!" I yelled as I sent a potent blast of air towards its torso keeping it from advancing towards Kanon, who was continuing to shoot electricity at it.

As the others began siphoning their elements into a constant stream, I ceased mine. "What are you doing?" Sakeme questioned.

I'm getting rid of this thing!" I called back as I leapt into the sky, riding the air currents ever upward. I took a brief glance down, nearly hurling just from the sheer height coupled with the fact that I could no longer fly. Even still, I kept climbing higher and higher, until my glider began to freeze from the height, at which point I stopped and took just a few seconds flying straight before going into a nose dive. Once I was halfway down, my glider receded and I spun, building up a current of air spiraling behind me as I landed right on top of the Spirit, the air around me softening my landing as the monster's dark form exploded into several tiny particles which dissipated soon after. My landing had created a crater, and the others came to the edge of it, looking at me. "What?"

"You have something on your face," Ling stated. "All over your body in fact."

I blinked and looked down, seeing some of the spirit goo, feeling more like tree sap than anything, and wiping it off, with it dissipating after leaving my body. I gave them one more look before I started laughing. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

"Fun isn't the word I'd use," Sakeme stated.

Before long, President Reiko and the press arrived, along with Lin and the Metalbending Police aiding any civilians who were unfortunate enough to get stuck here during the fighting. I playfully saluted Reiko. "Hey there!" I greeted him. "Sorry about the mess."

"Do you know what attacked the people of Republic City?"

"Um…" I looked around for Jinora, but she was gone investigating the other Spirit Wilds. "I think it was a Spirit, but not the kind that we've come to know."

"Are you saying the spirits have turned on us?"

"Well, not exactly. I'd need more time to look into it, but for now, I think people should avoid the Spirit Wilds," I turned to the press. "Be sure to tell them that, alright? Also tell them that Air Temple Island is the home of anyone who needs refuge should their home be compromised at any point, right Tenzin?" I looked around, not seeing him either. "Jeez, didn't even come to clean up," I slouched a bit before standing straight, seeing the press leaving to get words from the Police or whatever the press did.

"Yuuto, I need to talk to you," Reiko pulled me aside. "Is there any particular reason you didn't just let Lin and the police handle this?"

"Well, I _am_ the closest thing to an Avatar you've got," I said nonchalantly. "Though if you want a serious answer, I'll say that I care about this city as much as you do. I want to help it however I can. Though, if all you'll let me do is offer refuge, then so be it," I relented.

Reiko blinked. "I…didn't think you would keel over like that."

"Please, I'm not as stubborn as our previous Avatar," I claimed. "So do you _really_ mind if I help with this spirit problem or is it something your super-secret book club said you should keep me from doing?"

"If you're referring to the other world leaders, then no. But I need to know that I can rely on you, if this is what you'll choose to do."

I nodded. "If I hear of trouble like this, I'll make sure that no one gets hurt," I said confidently as I offered my hand to shake on it. He took my hand and the deal was made.

Once the commotion had died down, we all returned to Air Temple Island, where Tenzin, surprisingly, said I handled the situation well. "I think it was the right move to offer refuge. It was a sign of good intentions of the willingness to provide respite," he concluded.

"I just wanted to look good for the press actually," I claimed.

"Yeah right!" Kanon playfully hit my arm. "If that were the case then I would've been able to tell."

"Hey, relax! It was just a joke!"

With that conversation then turning to harmless argument, the night went by and the next day rolled in, where I'd finally woken up at a decent hour, though even then everyone was still waiting on me.

I sipped a bit of tea as Meelo and Ikki barged in, with Jinora waltzing in behind them. "Big news! Big news!" the younger two cried.

"What? What?" Tenzin questioned. "Good or bad!"

"Super good! Like super awesome good!" Meelo exclaimed as Jinora held up today's newspaper to us. "Yuuto made the front page!"

Tenzin read it aloud. "Spirit Wild Crisis Averted by Guardian of Republic City: A mysterious creature emerged from one of the Spirit Wilds yesterday and began wreaking havoc. Luckily for Lady Republic, though its Avatar has left her, she has a new protector. Newly appointed Airbending Master Yuuto and his team of other benders warded off the creature and ensured Republic City's safety."

"Lady Republic?" I wondered, confused.

"I think you took the wrong part of the article," Jinora said. "You're a hero now! The Hero of Republic City."

"What? Me? No way, I'm not a hero, of anything or any Lady."

"But it's what the paper says!" Meelo said.

"I know what the paper says, but-"

"And you told Reiko that you'd handle all of these problems!"

"You were eavesdropping?!" I snapped, giving Meelo a noogie. "Why I oughta!"

"Yuuto," Tenzin began. "This could be a new start for you."

"But…what if I don't live up to their expectations? What would I have to say for myself?"

"Well, just be you. You've made a name for yourself in the city overnight. You'll wear it with you, always."

Jinora handed me the paper, and I read it over again. I sighed. "I guess…I might as well, it'll look good when I apply for a real job, right?" I joked. "And hey, I suppose being a Guardian wouldn't be too bad, now would it?"

**Author's Note:**

**Hooray****, this story still exists!**

**Not much to say about this one other than that little Guardian thing at the end. It won't amount to much. It'll just be a title like the Avatar or the bending brothers, or some other thing like that, so don't get your hopes up.**

**Also, from this point onwards, things are going to get...let's say, dark. Like dark dark, so be prepared and, uh...sorry in advance.**

**Anyway, don't forget to review, and I'll see you guys in the next one, where it'll totally pick up directly where this one leaves off!**


	38. 38 Ten Years Later

Oh man, so much has happened in the last ten years. What, you may ask? Ten years?

Yeah, ten years, because literally nothing in that time is truly important to be recorded for you all.

But here's what you missed:

Alright, so first thing's first, Reiko designated me the new Guardian, a new title for a protector or a sentinel; a cut above a police grunt and always trying to do the right thing wherever we went.

Second, I mastered both earthbending and firebending, according to my teachers. Waterbending is the doozy though. I tried finding a teacher, but there was never one that could draw the talent out of me. I even tried Eska and Desna, who had two conflicting opinions on how I should be taught, ultimately agreeing to teach me at the same time, and then everything just blew up into a big waterbending fight between the two of them over what was the right way to teach me, at which point I got the hell out of there.

So I've decided that if I couldn't learn the basics of waterbending by myself, I just wasn't meant to be a waterbender…and I couldn't get the basics myself. I still look for a teacher, but not as actively; moving on!

Third, Tenzin admitted that I was a better bender than he was…yeah, that's kinda it. Not much to it, but I felt like bragging.

Moving right along, not everything can be good, so we'll move onto things that have went horribly wrong during this time, or the one thing that has gone horribly wrong. The Spirit Wilds.

Yes, the problem that occurred ten years prior is continuing to happen and more frequently, though only appear to be occurring at nighttime. Thankfully, me and my team have developed a way to suppress the Spirits without killing them and have taught these methods to the Metalbending Police, though they aren't the core problem. The Wilds themselves are expanding well beyond where they're supposed to go, to the point where some have even connected and are creating this vast network over around half of the city. It's strange in that all the wilds are culminating around the Spirit Portal, leading Jinora, our resident Spirit Expert, and I to think that the reason Spirits are turning dark is because of the imbalance of Spiritual Energy created by a third portal. That being said, it's only spiritually charged areas which are affected and…this is turning into Dark Spirit Pest Control 101, so I'll stop. You get the point.

This half of the city around the Spirit Portal has been titled (affectionately) as the Wildlands. Since we don't have any Avatar anymore, we can't do much to stop it, but we do what we can, and that's the last I'll say.

Moreover, I refuse to sleep until I know that the citizens of Republic City aren't in danger. I may not be an Avatar. I may not be able to waterbend, but what I can do is aid this city in growing be as strong as it can be.

No I'm not the Avatar, but I am this world's Guardian.

If they ever made a mover out of my life, after that line was read, you'd show a shot with my eye and zoom it out to show me looking all triumphant and then just let it roll into the next scene because it was all happening in real-time and…this is geeking out, isn't it? Alright, I've had a lot of time during the day to watch movers so excuse me.

Anyway, it was a calm day of training between airbenders, if you want to call it training.

It was Tenzin's kids and Kai against me, and they were having trouble keeping up.

I dodged around Kai's kick and then side-stepped away from Meelo's blast before pushing him away without the use of bending just to throw him off balance; both had become capable benders and leaders in their own right by the way. Feeling a shift in the air behind me, I burst into a roll forward, avoiding Ikki's blast and retaliating with a kick-thrust blast back towards her to knock her off-balance. Jinora used this opportunity to leap over her sister in a surprise attack which was coordinated with Kai's assault from the other side.

I backed up as they approached and drop-kicked their hands to blast upwards instead of towards me and then I burst forward, pushing them away as well. This kind of brawl continued for a while longer before all four of them were panting on the sidelines.

"Aw, come on, guys! You can't be tired already! We just started!"

"Try two hours!" Ikki corrected.

"I don't know how you do it, man," Kai stated, still catching his breath. Jinora was already absorbed in another book and Meelo was sound asleep, still retaining the ability to sleep under any circumstances from his childhood.

"Alright, you slackers; take five and then you're with Tenzin for a while," I told them before grabbing a glass of water myself from the kitchen. Oh yeah, that's another things that happened in the past ten years; the kitchen expanded. Why? Because more and more people were residing here on the island because of the growing Wildlands problem.

Either way, once I got my glass, I went over to the other part of the island, where I saw Kuvira and Sakeme duking it out in a practice match of their own. "Mind if I join?" I called over to them. They glanced at me briefly before shrugging and continuing on their own.

Not wanting to interrupt again for selfish "I want to take the glory" purposes, I instead found someone else to, uh…pleasure.

Kanon had been busy raiding Republic City's many libraries, as well as Tenzin's personal library, for anything she could entertain herself with. It ranged from bending scrolls, theories, legends, history, etc.

I leaned over her as she sat on a small hill overlooking the makeshift arena, reading on of these said scrolls. "Whatcha reading this time?" I wondered, mostly just to get her attention. She sighed, knowing what I was doing as I had already played this trick many times before.

"Well, I decided to be a bit more topical; it's about the Air Nation's history, and about some of their greatest monks. Avatar Aang, Gyatso, Laghima," she said as I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Oh," I feigned annoyance. "That guy was such a liar, wouldn't make for a good partner, you know?" I said it slowly, completely zenned-out-like.

She chuckled. "Oh really? Good thing he floated away then," she fake-agreed, running her hand through my hair. "But you're not gonna float away, are you?"

We both smiled as I started kissing the back of her neck, moving to her cheeks, slowly and agonizingly, making my way to her lips before she turned around and we had our little session.

We heard snickering from behind a bush, and I nonchalantly blasted the spying Ikki and Meelo into the air and away from us, not missing a beat.

"Yuuto," Pema interrupted. Kanon and I separated, our cheeks still rosy. "We have a visitor."

I nodded softly, putting my attention back to my girl briefly. "Gotta split," I said before I stood and left while she returned to her book. I approached the dock, where my quote-unquote "visitor" was arriving, seeing their boat from the city. My shoulder drooped as I took a seat, waiting for them to arrive. When they finally did, I recognized the Earth Kingdom insignia, so it was either an ambassador or an old friend…and it was latter...and the former.

Tenzin greeted her first. "Suyin!" the two shared a handshake. "It's been quite a while since you've paid us a visit!"

"Too long, Tenzin. Air Temple Island is bustling, I see," she acknowledged the expanded residence buildings for the influx of people.

"Yes, a bit too noisy for me, but I've made sure that the meditation area has remained untouched," he agreed. "How goes Zaofu, then?"

"About as quiet as normal," she said. "Boring, compared to life here."

"Ah yes, the Wildlands problem…" he moaned. "We've been working day in and day out to solve it, I assure you."

"I'm sure you have," she said as they walked into the kitchen, to which I followed. "Yuuto, it's good to see you after all of this time!" she greeted me, us sharing a hug.

"To you too, Suyin," I returned. "But, being as curious as ever, what brings you to Air Temple Island?"

"Actually, I was wondering the same thing myself," Tenzin added.

"Unfortunately, nothing good. I've come on behalf of all of the Earth Kingdom. The Swamp in the south has been acting up lately. Well, more than normal I should say."

"How's Toph?"

"My mother told us it was feeling strange, and hasn't gone near it since," she said. "But she's fine."

"Well, there's one good thing about this," I offered.

"Is it connected to the Wildlands problem?" Tenzin wondered.

"Have dark spirits been attacking?" I asked more specifically.

"They've been seen, but they haven't left the Swamp yet, though we're preparing for it any-" she never finished her sentence.

Instead, she was startled as an earth column bashed my head into the ceiling. I landed gracefully enough, rubbing my head. "Damn it, not again…" I moaned as I got ready for a match with Kuvira, ready to tell her that now wasn't a good time, but I got beat to the punch, literally.

Suyin burst into action before anyone could react, blasting Kuvira out of the building and following her out. Tenzin and I rushed outside, seeing the two women stand facing each other. Tenzin was about to call out, but I held him back.

"Wait," I said. "Let's see what happens," I said with a smirk, eager to see a real earthbending duel again.

"They'll kill each other!" Tenzin argued.

"Or maybe they'll work things out," I offered. Suyin knew that Kuvira was staying with us on the island. We'd told her, she looked disgusted, and never spoke about it again, not even acknowledging her presence when Kuvira was around. I could only imagine the feelings of resentment both women harbored for the other.

"Alright, that's it! I've tolerated you being free for the past ten years!" Suyin called to her new opponent. "But attacking your owner was the last straw!"

"Yuuto hardly owns me, Beifong," Kuvira countered. "And we both know what happened last time we fought," she warned.

The two proceeded to get into a cat-fight of the ages, throwing boulders and metal sheets left and right, neither giving an inch, though both received a fair amount of cuts and bruises from the brawl. Suyin appeared to have won with a direct shot to the face, though as she stood over her former protégé, Kuvira tripped her up and then kicked her away. Suyin retaliated with a rock pillar to blast Kuvira away, conveniently right at our feet. As Kuvira stood to counter, I held her back by her arms. "Alright, that's enough venting," I said like an older brother would his sibling.

A while later, after the unnecessary injuries were pathed up, and after we explained to Suyin that Kuvira was only keeping me on my toes with her little stunt, we resumed our conversation.

"So you said that no spirits have attacked?"

"No," Suyin confirmed while Tenzin handed Kuvira a bag of ice for her already-forming black eye from the head shot. "The surrounding towns have been preparing heavily, given what's become of Republic City."

"Any leads as to why?"

"Actually, there is one, and this one is all I needed to come to you specifically for help. He's on the boat," she said before we visited "him."

We was held bound with cuffs behind his back. "What's his story?"

"He was found snooping around the Swamp, defiling its roots and trees with fire," Suyin explained. "And look on his neck."

I looked a bit closer, soon ruing the day. "The Red Lotus…"

**Author's Note:**

**Hey there! Not much to say about this one other than the fact that I had that little monologue at the beginning planned out since the end of the arc arc. The rest of incredibly difficult to write though. And yes, this is leading into the final arc of this story, which may or may not lead to sequel; I haven't decided yet.**

**Other than that, don't forget to review, and I'll see you in the next one!**


	39. 39 Trap

"The Red Lotus?" Kuvira questioned. "Those people who tried to steal away Avatar Korra?"

"…Yeah," I confirmed. "I thought they'd go back into hiding…" I moaned before socking the man in the face and lifting him up by his shirt collar. "You wanna tell me where your head hauncho is hiding this time?"

"I ain't telling you shit," he said as he spit in my face. After wiping the residue off, I turned to the others.

"Excuse us for a moment," I said as I dragged him out of the boat and threw him away. The others followed to observe. I cracked my knuckles. "I'm gonna give you one chance, Red Lotus Scum. Why were you trying to burn down one of the most spiritual places in all of the Earth Kingdom?"

"Bite me."

"Oh trust me, I'll do a _lot_ worse!"

I leapt up and brought a powerful band of air down onto the man, making him bounce away, following up in interrogating him.

The others looked on. Sakeme and Kanon had heard a commotion and had come to watch. "He certainly…" Sakeme didn't know what to say about my sudden rage. "Has a history with the Red Lotus."

"Hey, when you've gotta be intimidating, you've got be intimidating," Kanon said, laid back.

"Still, he never got that worked up around me…" he said, referring to his time within the terrorist group.

"It's because you mellow people out," Kanon claimed. "You did it to me with time anyway."

"I'll take your word for it."

I stepped on the man's back as he lay face-down in the dirt. "You still gonna act tough, big red?"

"You're the Avatar! You aren't supposed to act like this!" the man claimed. I chuckled.

"Buddy, I'm no Avatar; I'm the Guardian. Now, back to my question, or…" I lit up my wind sword and plunged it in front of his face.

"Alright! Alright, alright! We're trying to get your attention."

"Who is?"

"Souta! Souta and Kaito!" he yelled, as if afraid I couldn't hear him.

"Who?" I asked, not remembering them.

"The two leaders we took down in the Fire Nation!" Kanon called, overhearing the yelling.

"Oh, those amateurs," I remained unimpressed. "Why'd they want my attention?"

"For a rematch; they heard you were a spirit-pest-control in Republic City, and tried to stir up trouble in the Swamp!" the man closed his eyes, waiting for me to threaten or harm him more, but I didn't.

I stepped off of him and smacked my fist into my palm. "Well then, I suppose it's time I make an entrance."

The others approached. "You sure that's wise, Yuuto?" Sakeme said. "It's clearly a trap."

"What's the worst they could do?"

"Shoot lightning through you again," Kanon offered.

"I'll be careful," I said. "We won't need all five of us I don't think. Sakeme, you'll come with me to deal with the Red Lotus. Tenzin, I need you to contact Ling and have him meet us there."

"Consider it done."

"Kuvira, you and Kanon keep watch while I'm gone. If there's any word, I'll have radio on me at all times," I said. "Let me know if something major comes up."

"Thank you, Master Yuuto. I knew you'd see the importance of this task," Suyin said sincerely.

"No problem," I said before running off to get my glider before the two of us set off.

Once we _finally_ made it to the Swamp, and after much complaining that Sakeme couldn't glide like I could, we met up with Ling. "Hey, man. Heard you needed some help with something here."

I nodded and gestured to the Swamp. "The Red Lotus."

"Oh, those guys again," Ling said, uninterested. "You sure you even need my help?"

"Well, I don't know how many there are," I said back as the three of us walked in. "For all we know, there could be a hundred of them, or perhaps just the two leaders. We don't know."

"Then why'd you come without a plan?"

"Since when were you the authority on strategy in this little band?" I countered playfully.

"Since you started becoming a pushover by playing with the little kids back at the island!"

"Why I oughta!" we were about to get into a scuffle, but Sakeme separated us.

"Stop it; you're both acting like children. Listen," he ordered, causing us to become silent. As we continued further into the forest, we heard something. We heard…singing?

"_Days of warning…night…brings morning. My prayers, worthless; heaven…is burning down."_

"Where's it coming from?" Ling questioned. "And I…think I recognize it…the voice anyway."

"Agreed," Sakeme said. "It _is_ familiar."

The singing continued. "_Darkest Lord…your mercy shall I gain. Strike the match, sire, engulf the Earth in flames…"_ after a while, it devolved into mindless drabble. "_In flames…in flames…In flames!"_ the voice yelled, giving us a clear indication of us getting closer.

Finally, we came to the voice of the woman who'd been leading us to her. She was swaying lightly back and forth on a stump, seemingly driven mad.

"_Nature, quaking…prophets, aching…let the youthful die…" she turned to us. "…as damnation…cracks the sky," _she finished, slowly, her eyes bloodshot, several markings indicative of a beating showing on her neck and face. "That is your Requiem, Guardian…" she said softly, delicately, as if she spoke out of line, she would suffer another beating.

The three of us recognized her immediately. "Kaito…" Sakeme said as Ling kneeled by her side.

"Hey, come on, you smug prick," he slapped her lightly. "Can you see me?"

She ignored the man she'd once had a rivalry with. She instead continued zeroing in on me. "It's a trap, you know?"

"I know," I said back. "That's why we came, so no one else would have to get hurt."

"No, not a trap for you."

I hardly had time to comprehend that before a buzz came from the radio.

"Yuuto!" Kanon came through. I picked up the mic.

"What is it?"

"It's the Red Lotus! They're trying to free Zaheer!"

Kuvira POV

With Yuuto gone, I'd had the chance to relax, not having to worry about constantly drilling him on the intricacies of earthbending as she had become accustomed to doing. However, I didn't get much time to myself, as only around two days after he'd left, we got an emergency signal, coming from the radio.

I rushed towards it, listening in. It only came out as static at first before I finally made out what they were saying, though frantic. "Please- gah! Send help! It's the Red Lotus, they-" the man cut out.

Kuvira picked up the mic. "What? What's happening? Where are you?"

"Zaheer's prison!" the man yelled. "Please, I don't know who this is, but send help! Please! We can't hold out for-" the voice cut out again, and there was only static.

I rushed outside, quickly getting Master Tenzin's attention, along with the other benders on the island and informed them of the situation. "Then we dispatch at once, call all airbender back to Republic City," he stated without hesitation, beginning to rally the other airbenders that we already present.

I turned to Kanon. "Contact Yuuto; get him back here quickly," I ordered.

"What'll you do?" she asked as I propped up my hood.

"It's about time for order and chaos to have a little duel," I stated before quickly making my way inland and toward Zaheer's prison.

The battle had already moved inside, though the metalbending police was just arriving and joining the fight. Chief Beifong and her forces had taken out most of the foot soldiers, but we having a lot of trouble with their new mechas; the design basically ripped from the Earth Empire's mecha, albeit on a much smaller scale given that it was essentially an armored suit.

Leading the charge was one that looked much more highly advanced, with guns and extra layers of defense lining its exterior.

Some of the remaining foot soldiers had hurried along and dueling with Suyin Beifong, though even then some of them pressed forward, into Zaheer's cell. I burst forward, past them. "What are you doing?!" Suyin yelled at me before I ducked under the cell door, just barely making it through before it closed back up.

I stood and sent two of the Red Lotus members away from the prisoner immediately, getting ready to launch the other two before one of the burst forward to attack. They didn't distract me for long, but it was long enough for Zaheer's chains to be cut, rendering him a free man. That is, _if_ he could get past me.

Once I'd subdued the remaining two grunts, I stood facing Zaheer. He smirked at me. "So you're the one who'd undo everything I'd worked so hard to obtain; Kuvira, the 'Great Uniter'," he acknowledged.

"It seems bad word seeps even through the smallest cracks. You're completely isolated for the outside world, how'd you know?"

"Avatar Korra showed me," he claimed. "When I aided her in a spiritual pilgrimage. I saw what happened when she faced you, even if she didn't want me to see it."

"Then you know I'm a force to be reckoned with!" I dashed forward, bring up and earth pillar at the convict as I did, though he side-stepped out of the way and caught my fist as I flung it at him.

"On the contrary…this is one of two things I've wished to do for the past ten years," he said before he threw me into the ground. I quickly recovered, forcing the ground he was standing on away from mine, where I could stand and send wave after wave of stone slab his way, though he deftly dodged all of them. Eventually, I stopped, opting for a more direct approach, engaging in a bare fist fight, using pillars from behind and in conjunction with my attacks to provide distractions, but even then, he managed to outplay me, twisting my arm behind my back and pinning me to the ground. "Is this all you've got, Great Uniter?"

"I'm _not_ the Great Uniter," I insisted. "Not anymore."

He put further strain on my arm. "Then you'll die without a legacy after all," he threatened. "Even those whom you once trusted won't help you," he claimed, forcing my head to the door, where Suyin Beifong was standing, debating with herself over whether or not she should aid me.

"Beifong, help! Stop him!" I called.

There was a crash on the other side of the door, which had been blown open, and when the dust cleared, Lin Beifong was shown struggling with the advanced mecha. Suyin turned her back on me, turning her head only briefly in my direction. "I needed your help once too," was all she said before abandoning me.

"And there it is; the sweet sound of lamentation from a teacher betrayed by her protégé. It would be tragic, should it not be so pathetic!" he grabbed my hair and threw me against the wall. "_That_, No Name, will be your legacy!" he grabbed my neck.

"No! It won't! I can change it!" I choked out.

"Not if I kill you here and now. You should've been sent to a prison far worse than mine and yet you remained free! Any who receive undeserved privilege deserve to rot in eternal damnation!"

Suddenly, Kanon burst in and struck the arm which was holding my neck, causing it to fall limp at Zaheer's side. More annoyed than anything, he retreated outside.

When he released me, I went into a coughing fit as my body involuntarily gasped for air. Kanon tried to offer comfort, but soon my vision began to go hazy. "Hey, come on, stay with me, Kuvira," she pleaded, to which I nodded weakly.

"Y-yeah, I…I-I…ooh…" my moaned as I passed out.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, so, as if literally three minutes prior to posting this, I have finished writing this story. I'm not doing an epilogue, or anything special, just an ending with a possible cliffhanger for a sequel which will, in actuality, have nothing to do with the sequel which may or may not be seen as sacrilege to the original Last Airbender show and...**

**Whatever, in any case, don't forget to review and I truly do hope you're looking forward to the grand finale!**

**P.S. the requiem bit is important, so keep it on tab.**


	40. 40 Ruined

Yuuto POV

I rushed back as fast as I could, gliding far ahead of Sakeme and Ling to try, in vain, to help in the fight. Alas, I arrived far too late for that. I at first stopped off at the prison, hoping that Zaheer hadn't escaped, but unfortunately they claimed that he escaped and his forces completely dominated ours. Disappointed, I returned to Air Temple Island, where some of the White Lotus members who were injured were recovering. "Tenzin!" I called when I landed, soon hearing him call me in return from the kitchen. I entered and saw him, Suyin, Lin, and Kanon standing around. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out where Zaheer disappeared," Lin stated.

I noticed a distinct lack of a person there. "Where's Kuvira?"

Kanon led me to her room, where she was laid up in a bed, injured. I went to her side and checked for breathing, temperature, anything to assure myself that it wasn't major. "Zaheer shook her up pretty badly…in more ways than one," Kanon said with a somber tone, waiting for me to finish. Once I was done, I went to her, kissed her a couple times.

"And what about you?" I asked, equally if not more worried about her.

"I'm standing, aren't I?" she assured as we returned to the kitchen.

I listened while they discussed, debating in circles about where he'd go. They came up with some outlandish ideas too. The old Red Lotus' base, the Southern Water Tribe to get revenge on Tonraq, which was the most plausible one by the way, so we sent word to him to prepare, the Swamp, some remote mountain range in the Earth Kingdom even.

I shook my head. "He didn't just disappear," I stated.

"And how do you know, Zephyr?"

"Because…he wants something. And he isn't one to stop until he gets what he wants. He's not going to just crawl in a hole and stay there."

"He very well might; his smart card is shot; he can't airbend anymore and he knows that he's been caught when he couldn't airbend," Tenzin argued. "And how do you know he what he wants?"

"Because he told me."

The others' eyes were on me. I took a deep breath.

"Ten years ago, when we were first having problems with the Spirit Wilds because of Kuvira, Korra needed to visit him, remember?"

"And you went with her," Tenzin said, to which I nodded.

"While Korra was in the Spirit World, I spoke to him. I told him that that would be the last I saw of him, but he said that the second time we fought, that he would beat me. He said that…he couldn't wait for the day when my whole world came crashing down around me; when my eyes were wide with agony and regret. He wants to fight me, and he wants to beat me," I concluded.

Lin threw her arms into the air. "How'd he even escape anyway? We had upwards of a hundred on our side and they had maybe thirty left standing at the end."

"That isn't important anymore," Suyin reasoned. "We should focus on-"

"Actually, I'm curious as to what the weak link was. Here we have four master benders; what were you all doing that let him escape?"

"Su, weren't you even at his door?" Lin agreed, remembering back to the battle. "What stopped you?"

She hesitated, obviously either regretting something or simply wishing for something to remain hidden. She opened her mouth to speak, but never did. "It was because I was there," Kuvira said from the doorway, leaning against it for support. "She abandoned the prospect of stopping Zaheer for her grievances with me," she claimed.

I turned to Suyin. "Is this true?"

The woman turned away. Kanon went to Kuvira, helping her get what she needed from the room, a bag of ice for the major headache she no doubt had. Once she left, I sighed.

"Do you have a reason?" I asked softly, asking what everyone was thinking. "Or was it just out of spite?"

"Yuuto," she warned.

"I think we're all curious," I said, possibly a bit forcefully.

Suyin then noticed the eyes on her. "Su…" her sister put a hand on her shoulder, which was shrugged off.

"What?" she chuckled slightly. "I don't see how you people haven't seen it. She doesn't care about us, she never has; don't you get it?"

"She risked her life to stop Zaheer," I stated.

"She also turned a massive spirit energy cannon against all of Republic City for no other reason than to boost her own ego," she reminded us.

"That was ten years ago."

"Oh? And how long do you think it'll take for your coddling to boost her ego yet again? Make her do something more drastic than before? She _ruined_ us, all of us!"

I stood. "No…she ruined you. The rest of us can see that she'd changed for the better. Now the only thing holding her back is you," I said angrily before I left.

I stormed out of the building and went to the gazebo overlooking the city, sitting down and crossing my legs, ready to meditate. I soon lost myself in the black void, seeing Avatar Wan in front of me yet again. She fake-saluted. "Hey there!" he greeted cheerily. "How goes the real world?"

"Well, one of the most evil men on the planet just got broken out of prison, so…" I said, killing the mood.

"Oh, well…um…"

"Avatar Wan, I need your help. This man, Zaheer, I'd defeated thirteen years ago. I took away his bending."

"Yeah, I remember. It was the first time you did it, right?"

"Right. But he's escaped and he wants to fight, but…"

"But what?"

"But he has to know that he can't beat me without his airbending, right? So…I was thinking…he's trying to get it back."

"Impossible," Wan claimed. "Not unless someone who knew energybending in within this 'Red Lotus'."

"I doubt it, but…is there any other way?"

"Well…" Wan contemplated. "There is one," he said finally.

"What?"

"If he found the Air Lion Turtle," Wan said. "And impressed it in some way. It would most likely restore his bending despite what he'd do with it."

I nodded. "But…where…? Would he know where it is? Where is it then? How would he impress it?" all of these questions flowed out of my mouth and none of them were answered, before suddenly, like lightning, it hit me. "I know where he is!" I yelled, quickly exiting meditation and rushing back to the kitchen.

"Yuuto? What is it?"

"I know where Zaheer is!" I claimed. "He's at Laghima's Peak!"

"Why would he go there?"

"Because the Air Lion Turtle is there, hiding above the clouds! _That's_ why he wanted to capture Korra there, expecting a fight and expecting to attain flight at that very moment to impress the Lion Turtle as a contingency!" I spouted it off as if I made any sense to them. I started retreating out of the room. "I-I have to hurry; he's already got half a day on me…"

"Yuuto, wait, we should-"

"I can't _wait_, Tenzin!" I snapped, grabbing my glider. "If I don't get there in time, then Zaheer will be unstoppable again!" I claimed as I flew off in the direction of the mountain range.

I flew as fast and as long as possible, quickly making it to the norther mountain range and seeing the massive figure of the lion turtle, with Zaheer at the base of its two claws, the familiar green light now appearing in my worst nightmare as Zaheer's bending was restored.

**Author's Note:**

**Yeah, shut up, I needed some way of making Zaheer a threat, and, given his character, it kind of makes sense that he'd have a contingency like this. Plus, we've seen he's capable of not only translating ancient airbending philosophies, so he may very well have tracked where the Air Lion Turtle ended up.**

**Anyway, nothing else much to say, just a standard chapter, but still, next time is when things will pick up big time in the final stretch. Hope you're all looking forward to it and don't forget to review!**


	41. 41 Massacre

"Nooooo!" I yelled as I broke into a dive, trying to stop the nightmare form returning. Air spiraled behind me as I gained speed. Zaheer turned to me, the lion turtle retreating, and funneled a wind barrier; a massive one.

Our bending clashed, with his barrier not stopping me, but certainly putting me off target. I crashed into the ground rolling a bit before standing and facing him. "Did I not tell you that we would once again clash?" he asked as he rose, also regaining his ability of flight.

"Shut up!" I sent a blast of air at him, which he diffused.

"And yet it seems the odds have tipped in my favor. Tell me, why do you have need of glider when you can fly?"

"Raagh!" I dashed toward him, engaging in an airbending battle of the ages, both of us sending waves after wave that cracked the solid stone it was redirected into. I swiped upwards with my glider staff, pushing Zaheer further into the sky before following him up, going above him and swinging down onto him, sending him crashing to the ground where I engaged him yet again. I sent wave after wave, but he just wouldn't go down, eventually even pushing me back and flying away.

"Heh, I always was the superior bender of the two of us, wasn't I?" he mocked as he ran away.

"Get back here!" I yelled as I extended my glider. I followed him around the corner, only to be clotheslined, landing on a platform, my glider having fallen. I stood quickly and took a stance, ready to face him as he flew circles around me.

"Come now, don't hold back for me; I'd love to see what our new Guardian can do!"

I gritted my teeth as I put my hands to my chest for only a split second, before stomping my foot to the ground and ripping a chunk of earth from the pillar Zaheer was passing, flinging it towards him, which he dodged.

I then took another slab and sent to inward him, but as I did, I broke it into separate pieces, one of which nailed him, making him fall a ways before he picked himself up again. He then burst toward me, catching me by surprise though I dodged his charge, raising a stone slab to keep him from flying away before I engaged him yet again, catching his wild fist and bring up the earth beneath his feet to knock him off balance. However, he used it to his advantage, flipping up, airbending me away as he did, and vaulting over the slab. In retaliation, I pushed the slab over, though he'd moved out of the way before it hurt him.

I pressed my hands to my chest again, soon shooting arcs of fire toward Zaheer, deft strikes which forced him to go on the defensive. Soon, he managed to get behind me, and attacking, keeping behind me as he annoyed me with constant gusts of winds which pushed me forward. I reached behind me, shooting a stream of flames, forcing him away before I changed back to airbending, engaging him in a duel yet again, though, again, he managed to out-bend me and retreat. This time, I burst forward, leapt up after him with my airbending, lit up my wind sword, and snagged onto his pant leg.

He flew a ways before I swung up to his torso, blasting him several times point-blank before he pushed me off of him, simultaneously knocking away my wind sword, with me landing on an alcove where I switched to earthbending and sent stone after stone to try and nail him once again, but none of my attempts were successful.

However, finally I saw my opening. I opened up a stone slab in his face, which stopped him, and proceed to block off every way up or down to go, with the rock face itself providing the third wall. I swiftly changed back to airbending and leapt up toward him, rearing my fist back. "I've got you!" I yelled, as even Zaheer looked surprised that I'd cornered him. However, as I was about to throw the punch and tip the odds back in my favor, my entire body was shot with this enormous pain.

Blue light emanated from my body as I curled up slightly, throwing my leap off target and allowing Zaheer to bend me straight into the rock wall, letting me drop to the alcove below.

When I landed, I managed to get to my hands and knees before collapsing again. "What…what the hell is happening?" I questioned. "Why now?"

"I see, so it's finally happened," Zaheer said, as if he knew this would occur all along.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, forcing my feet under me and standing, using the rock wall as leverage to remain standing.

Zaheer put on a sick grin. "Oh, it's nothing much; just the slaughter of the entire Reborn Air Nation," he claimed, saying it like it was just another weekend.

"No, that's not true," I retorted. "Tenzin wouldn't-"

"I ordered Master Tenzin to be the first to die," Zaheer interrupted. "You aren't the only one capable of connecting with your Avatar, Zephyr. Unalaq, despite his treacherous ways, taught me much about the spirits, including those of the Avatars which live within the airbenders. I know their tendencies, their lies, and their dreams. I knew that, should their vessel be compromised, that they'd find another. Except," he shoved me into the wall. "You're _not_ the Avatar, are you? That much spiritual energy is corroding your body, slowly, intimately, until you've been completely destroyed by the people who once protected the Nation with their lives."

"You…bastard…"

"Now, Yuuto, I can help you. I will gladly accept half of those spirits, on one condition," he said. "You are to be my slave; my puppet with which I can do anything that I please, and he will destroy whoever gets in my way. What do you say?"

"Over my dead body," I struggled out, causing another grin to appear.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he said as he began brutalizing me, pummeling me with wave upon wave of condensed air, causing several welts, cuts, bruises, etc., until I couldn't stand anymore. He picked me up by the shirt collar. "Tell me, Zephyr, is this the pain you felt when I'd dominated you last time?"

I spit some blood onto his cheek, which he wiped away before back-handing me. He floated away from me.

"I'm giving you one last chance," he warned. "Join me, or die."

"Go to hell, like the nightmare that you are."

"Hmph," was all he said before a flexed his muscles, causing a sphere of air to circulate around my head, sucking the air out of my lungs. I heart was beating faster than I ever thought possible, and yet I didn't have the strength to resist. Was this the fear that Korra had felt? Was this her burden?

I thought I was going to die that die; I saw my life flashing before my eyes, of every person important to me, passing me by; moving on, while I was stuck fighting this monster. It seemed…I was the one who'd been ruined by everyone's decisions.

However, suddenly, everything stopped, and air rushed into my lungs as a warmth engulfed me. While I would like to be a bit more romantic, it was only Sakeme shooting a fire stream past me, cutting off Zaheer. Nonetheless, Kanon did rush to my side while Sakeme engaged the flyer. "Ah, the traitor," Zaheer acknowledged the firebending master.

"And you must be the infamous Zaheer, the terrorist who kidnapped the Avatar."

"And now has done so much more than capture a petty human," Zaheer added. "Yes, I've heard all about you as well; you chose to become enslaved not once to my followers, but twice, to this amateur!" he motioned to my sorry figure. "How many times must your talent be taken advantage of when I'm right here, reveling in your victories, eager to gain you as an ally."

"To gain me, huh? Sounds like you want to brainwash me I'd say," Sakeme corrected, the two getting into a brief scuffle before Zaheer flew away.

"You got lucky this time, Zephyr, but when you rethink my offer, I'll be exactly where you think I'll be!" he called as I he flew off.

Sakeme visibly relaxed when he left before turning back to me. "Well, I think it's safe to say you've seen better days," he wrapped one of my arms around his shoulders and helped me stand. I groaned as he did, holding my ribs, and collapsing back to the ground.

Kanon grabbed my other arm and mirrored Sakeme, forcing me to stand once again, despite my shaking my head in protest. "You idiot…" a few tears fell. "Why'd you have to come fight him alone?"

We only walked a couple feet before the pain became too much, and they allowed met to rest again. "This is getting us nowhere. We'll wait for the other two," Sakeme said as I started drifting off. "Oh no you don't," he said as he noticed, slapping me lightly several times. "You're staying awake; we don't know about your severity yet."

Soon Kuvira arrived, on Naga no less, and a bit later, Ling arrived carrying a comm radio. "What took you so long?"

"Oh gods…" Kuvira rushed to me. "I-I'm so sorry; I should've been here to help, I-"

"Save it," Sakeme interrupted. "We need to get him to safety. For all we know, Zaheer only left to get a few battalions of troops mobilizing on our location," he explained as he and Kanon once again lifted me, much to my displeasure, groaning with every step.

"Please, fight through; we need to get you on Naga," Kanon urged as we made our way to the beast, with them managing somehow to slip me on top of he, with the others soon climbing on, Kanon in front, and the others behind, with us setting off at a trot, soon breaking into a full run to the nearest town, where we soon found a large hotel room.

I was laid up in a bed, with them quickly checking injuries and such, diagnosing that it was safe for me to rest as they formulated a plan.

Kuvira's POV

Only once Yuuto had fallen asleep did we begin discussing, not wanting him to waste energy in helping. Kanon tended not to join in, too busy with her other half, and, honestly, I couldn't blame her, none of us could. So, we let her do what she wanted.

That left Sakeme, Ling, and I, to devise a plan to topple the entirety of the Red Lotus under Zaheer's control, Souta, and Kaito, who'd been recaptured and brainwashed no doubt.

However, when the discussion began, there wasn't exactly a flow of ideas. Eventually, Ling threw his hands up. "Gah! What's the point? We're down one, possibly two to keep him safe, and were going up against an army with leaders we can't beat."

"I think we should stay our hand, waiting until we have all our players back," Sakeme agreed.

"And risk having Zaheer target the other world leaders?" I argued. "And besides, we can't stay here for long. He'll sniff Yuuto out, even you, Ling, to finish what his men started."

Then the radio started sounding. "Can…" the three of us gathered around it. "Can…anyone hear me?" Lin's voice came through. "Any of the ones who escaped?"

Sakeme picked up the mic. "Chief Beifong, we're here," he started, getting a sigh of relief.

"It's good to know that at least a few of you survived…"

"Chief Beifong, what happened to those on the island?"

"The leftover citizens of Republic City? Escaped, most of them anyway," she said, to which we all sighed, happy to see one good side to this story.

"We were sent to get Yuuto. It's me, Sakeme, with Kuvira, Ling, and Kanon."

"The gang's all there…" she said. It was clear that she was holding back tears. "Do yourselves a favor, and don't come back to Republic City."

"What? Why not?"

"The city's in disarray. Do you remember what happened in Ba Sing Se?"

"He didn't."

"The minute Zaheer returned, he broke in…and suffocated the President, just like he did the Earth Queen."

"That's…"

"Not possible?" Lin spat bitterly. "Well, think again."

"Tell us what we can do. We want to help however we can."

"You wanna know what you can do?" she wondered. "Heh, to be honest…I really don't know," she said as she hung up, leaving the five of us with less options than before.

**Author's Note:**

**I hate being sick...but at least ti gives me an excuse to post this early.**

**Yeah, I can tell already that this is going to be the chapter that makes or breaks me because I literally just killed off every freaking Airbender int he entire story that we've gotten attached to.**

**Hey, I warned you that it was going to get dark here! And I know that I didn't disappoint and won't disappoint!**

**Whatever, anyway, don't forget to review, give me your thoughts on this chapter especially, because I want to know if you guys like or dislike this decisions, but my bets are that you don't like it...but I guess that's why its an AU, isn't it?**


	42. 42 Out of Options

I woke slowly, quickly getting my bearings. I tried to sit up at first, but was both urged back down and fell down from the pain still resonating all throughout my body. "Where…" I choked out.

"A village just east of the mountains," Sakeme explained curtly, him and Kuvira leaning against opposite sides of the wall.

Kanon then took my attention. "How are you feeling? Any better?"

"Well…I can talk," I offered.

"The greatest of your gifts," Kuvira joked, getting a light chuckle before it faded, the severity of our situation returning after the brief respite of humor. "I know what you're thinking."

"I want to fight him again."

"Out of the question," Ling stated. "You lost flat out to that guy once, and look what happened."

"No, I _had _him," I insisted. "But then…"

"He planned for the fight, probably planning for a rematch right now," Kuvira agreed with Ling. "You won't stand a chance, especially not in your condition."

"But…" I soon gave up trying to allow them. "…Then what do we do?"

"We were hoping you'd have something," Kanon said softly. I turn to them as they looked to me expectantly. "You brought us together…we were hoping you'd pull us out of this."

"I…don't know…" I admitted.

Sakeme stood straighter. "Well, standing around doing nothing isn't helping," he went to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"If we're going to be here for a while, I suggest we secure food," was all he said before he left.

"I'll scout low for Red Lotus," Ling said before he took off in his wingsuit through the open entryway.

"And I'll take first watch on the roof, just in case," Kuvira agreed before also leaving, closing the door behind her, leaving Kanon and I.

With too much time to think, about what happened and what could've been done to stop it, tears then fell from my eyes. I raised one hand to cover my eyes as Kanon took the other. "You did what you thought was right," she tried to comfort me.

"But it wasn't," I argued. "I…failed. I failed everyone; let Tenzin die, and…" I sniffed. "I just…don't know."

"None of us do, Yuuto," she assured. "You're a lot of things; headstrong, impulsive, arrogant…but you're not alone. You never have been and you never will be," she said.

"I…thank you," instead of arguing, I accepted the comfort. "That…helps," I lied. She nodded and gave me a soft smile. "Hey, Kanon?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you…sing to me?"

She kissed my hand. "I'd love to," she said as she did so, relaxing me far beyond where I was when I first awoke.

When the others returned, I had managed to sit up and everyone was eager to get some food in their stomachs. We ate in silence for the most part.

Eventually, I couldn't take it. "We have to go back," I stated.

"To Republic City?"

"I need to be there," I said.

"Why? The city's a lost cause. The President is dead and Lin is trying to contain the chaos," Ling explained.

"All the more reason. I have a responsibility."

"Yeah, you do; it's to recover."

"I don't have time to recover, guys," I claimed. "We don't know how far off the danger is, so I say we make the danger ourselves; we take the fight to them and take them down as fast as possible."

"Yeah? And what happens when Zaheer gets his hands on you two airbenders? He'll completely wipe you out," Sakeme reminded.

"Yuuto; you have all of the other Avatar spirits in you now, right? Doesn't that mean anything?"

I shook my head and motioned to Ling. "Maybe if I had all of them; that's part of where an Avatar's power comes from after all, but…" I never finished, not wanting to complete that thought.

"Do you want to meditate on it?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to know the answer. And I'm not gonna sacrifice my friend," I stated.

"Thanks, man," Ling said.

I nodded, and we continued eating, soon finishing and getting a night of sleep.

The next day, we set off toward Republic City on foot, not wanting to draw too much attention to ourselves by all riding on Naga's back, even though they forced me on. Kanon hung back with me, while the other three were scouting ahead.

"Kanon…" I started.

"What is it?"

"I don't…know if I can do this," I lamented. "I'm not strong enough."

"Yuuto, I told you; you're not alone. You can lean on us; that's what friends are for."

"I know, but…facing Zaheer is something that I have to do alone, and…I don't know if I can do it."

Kanon let out a frustrated sigh. "It's that kind of doubt that made you lose in the first place."

I frowned. "No, it wasn't. It was-" I tried to explain by she cut me off.

"You could've beaten him sooner, had you actually thought you'd win," she argued. "I know you, Yuuto. If you truly think you can win; when you have an advantage in some way, you'll win. That's how you function. But if there's even a sliver of doubt in your mind, then it'll be like one of the many times you fought Sakeme or Kuvira. You'll lose, just like you did to Zaheer," she argued. "But…I don't get why you doubt yourself."

"…Because…" I tried to find the words to express my feelings, but only one word came to mind. "Failure; it terrifies me that I'll fail again."

"Then don't rely on yourself," she shot a smile. "You're someone other than the Zephyr now, right?"

"The Guardian…" I muttered, to which she nodded.

"Believe in the hero," she suggested, fully believing in every word she said. I only wished I could do the same. "He'll lead you through."

I nodded. "I'll…try," I said back, leaving most of the rest of the day in silence before we once again camped out. Sakeme looked ahead. "Another day's journey," he guessed. "We should be back in Republic City by tomorrow night."

I nodded. "Then we should rest up," Kuvira said. "Tomorrow is going to make us or break us."

We all sounded our agreement, with all of us taking a good night's sleep, Ling taking first watch.

However, I didn't sleep the whole night. I actually woke up an hour after I'd dozed off. I sat up and shakily stood, finally feeling some of my strength returning. I expected to hear Ling scold me on moving around, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing, I moved a bit away from the group and took up a meditative position, giving into my curiosity and longing.

I saw Wan, giving me a hard stare. At first, we didn't exchange any words, just contemplated whether or not we should trust each other; I let the past Avatars' efforts go to waste, so he couldn't trust me, and he could very well lie or betray me because of it, so I couldn't trust him. "…I'm sorry," I said finally.

"About what?" he wondered.

"About…the airbenders…" I muttered.

"I would've done the same thing. Every Avatar worth his salt would've done what you did, promise," he assured. "…You came for answers."

"Ling…asked if having all of these other Avatar spirits within me would change anything."

"It's all or nothing."

"But what would happen when I'd have all?"

"Well, for all intents and purposes, you'd become an Avatar," he explained. "You already have the current Avatar's essence within you, when she departed last, and with hers, Raava is buried deep within you, waiting for the other Avatars to give someone their blessing."

"Sounds…hokey…" I admitted. "Are you sure that's how it works?"

"Given that this is a new experience, no," he answered. "But if I had to put my money on it, I would."

I nodded. "…Do you think I can do it? Can I beat Zaheer?"

Wan hesitated. "To be honest, I don't think you have a chance."

I turned away, expecting the answer. "Tch, if I could fly I could beat him…just like last time."

"Well, there's your problem."

"What?"

"'If I could fly'? Those aren't the words of the man I chose to become an airbender."

"What else am I supposed to say?" I snapped. "You said that I don't have a chance! I'm grasping at straws here! Everyone on the outside is looking to me for the winning plan, but I don't have one!" I vented.

"It's because you doubt yourself."

"Yeah, I've heard it," I waved it off. "I didn't lose because I had doubts, I lost and nearly died because Zaheer outsmarted me, outsmarted everyone and took a few hundred lives with him!" I yelled. "And it's _all_ my fault!"

Wan shook his head, disappointed. "Shameful…"

"What?" I questioned, not understanding.

"Those are the words of a coward, not a hero."

"I'm not a hero!" I snapped. "I've never been a hero! Every time I try and do something right, I always get someone hurt! First Mei, then Korra, and now every single damn airbender you pathetic Avatars have created!" I felt my anger rising as I stood on nothing.

Wan stood to face me. "You're right, you aren't a hero, not now anyway!" he agreed before continuing. "But what about when you led the charge against the Red Lotus in the Fire Nation? Dove headfirst into the giant mecha to stop the Great Uniter? Risked your life to save the woman you once loved not only from an egomaniacal airbender, but also from herself after the fact? What were you then?"

"I was…" I couldn't find a response. "I wasn't…"

"Yuuto," he put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't make me regret choosing you, Zephyr. It seems that lately, your doubt and grief and every other symptom of sin is snagged on your broken wings, and they became that way only because of your own refusal to accept them as a part who you are. Because you thought you'd have to bear it alone," Wan stepped back.

"But I _am_ alone; no one else has to bear the weight of an entire planet!" I argued in vain.

"Wrong! You haven't been alone since I chose you, and we're more connected now than ever before!" he claimed before another person appeared behind him.

"We choose those who show promise; people of a new age that can lead humanity into true neutrality," Avatar Kyoshi stated.

"Because without people like you, the world would fall into utter chaos," Avatar Roku agreed.

"You hear that, fly-boy?" Korra questioned. "We're with you because we all believe in you! We'll always be with you, whether you want us here or not!"

One by one, every Avatar that has ever lived, save for one very prominent one, appeared behind Wan. "The Avatar has spoken. She left this world in your hands. Yes, you bear the weight of this world, but we'll be by your side, taking some of the weight from your shoulders."

Their eyes began to glow that pale blue as light erupted within the dream. "We will always be with you, Guardian!" they all said before I burst from meditation, sweating.

I put a hand to my face, wiping the sweat from my brow as I began controlling my breathing. "I thought you didn't want to meditate on it," Ling said from above me, laying lazily on a tree branch.

I shook my head. "It was something I had to do," I said, keeping out the fact that, should he die, I'd most likely become a pseudo-Avatar. Ling shrugged, both of us waiting for the sun to rise and everyone to awaken.

Little did I know, that, while he was gone, Ling himself connected to his inner spirit, himself learning the true nature of what would happen, as he silently pulled out my wind sword that he'd found while gliding around the battlefield for traps.

Unfortunately, he knew what had to happen should I lose again.

* * *

Somewhere in the Spirit World…

Korra and Asami had become quite acquainted with the world and its many wonders, and were enjoying a relaxing day off from exploring. Suddenly, Korra felt a tug at her heart, and lurched forward. "What's wrong?" Asami wondered.

"I don't know," Korra admitted, gripping her chest. It wasn't pain. It was almost like someone was calling out to her. Before she realized it, a single feather floated down into her hands. "That's weird."

"What is it?"

"It's a feather, but…it's…tainted. I don't know," Korra said as she stood. "But I know who sent it, even if they don't know it," she claimed as she let the feather float away on a gentle breeze; a zephyr. "And I'm going to find them."

"Why can't you just say here?"

"Listen, it's just…something I have to do. They need my help. I'll be back soon, I promise," Korra assured as she walked off, heading for the nearest portal out of the Spirit World.

**Author's Note:**

**Believe it or not, that last little bit is something I put in at the last minute, because I thought the story needed it.**

**I don't know what it is about it, but something about this chapter just seems off,not but, just off . Maybe it was just all of the in-your-face symbolism I put in it, but something feels different from my normal writing style.**

**Why don't you let me know if you agree with me? Perhaps in the form a review? I don't know, just an idea.**

**But let's get hype for the finale (finally) of the Last Great Airbender! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**


	43. 43 Requiem

Sakeme's prediction was right: we made it to the outskirts of the city by sunset, and would be inside the city at nightfall. The city itself looked about as bad as Ba Sing Se was, burning, being looted by thieves throughout, and in the center, hallowing over it all, was the Red Lotus, at the island which once held the statue of Avatar Aang, containing a museum to the man in which the Red Lotus had made their home.

I took a deep breath. "Let's go over the plan again."

"We split up," Kuvira stated. "Sakeme, you, and I head to the head-hauncho to get his attention, while Kanon and Ling scour the city to help contain the madness," she stated.

"We'll take Zaheer together," Sakeme agreed, and I nodded in agreement. Despite my insistence, I eventually succumbed to the fact that I couldn't fight him alone.

With that settled, we broke off, with Kanon diving into the Sewers to cut corners, and Ling gliding between buildings. Meanwhile, the rest of us made our way through the city, keeping a low profile, and eventually made it to the bay, looking out over the water, and looking shocked to see a battle already waging on the island, with Red Lotus members pouring onto it from the far side.

With little time to waste, we rushed to join, hitching a ride on one of the ships, of course knocking out everyone on board, and making it to the island, finally seeing that it was the Metalbending Police, trying to defeat Zaheer, though they weren't exactly succeeding. The main force was barely holding the island.

We burst in, flinging our specific arts every which way, blasting away the initial wave of Red Lotus members, giving the force a fighting chance before we burst in.

"You killed him, you bastard! It was you!" we heard from inside. As we entered a large stone room, seeing Lin fighting against the advanced mecha from before. "You killed Tenzin!"

"And what of it?!" Souta questioned from inside, soon getting the better of Lin, who seemed unable to metalbend the suit, and knocking her to the ground. Kuvira broke off from the group.

"No! Stick to the plan!" Sakeme called after her, but her mind was set. Souta raised the mecha's arm to deal the final blow.

"Now join him in hell!"

Souta swung downwards, but the arm never made it close, with Kuvira sending pillar after pillar at the mechas, blasting it away and into the wall. "Kuvira?" Lin questioned. She turned to us.

"Go!" she yelled to Sakeme and I, though we didn't need to be told twice. We ran straight through the door and shut it behind us, soon finding Zaheer, decked out on his fancy new throne.

"What? No crown?" Sakeme questioned as we took our stances.

"Oh? The failure and the traitor; is this the best that you could muster to oppose me?"

"I thought you stood for anarchy; since when did you treat yourself as a king?" I questioned.

Zaheer smirked. "Well, I suppose even I saw a flaw in my plan thirteen years ago, Zephyr. Chaos can be just as easily undone as it is instilled. I'm going to reign over Republic City. I'm going to make sure that it's in a state of constant anarchy, and if you wish to stop me, then please do. When I defeat you, I'll publicly execute the last hope for order in this city."

"You fight him, you fight me," Sakeme said as he stepped in front of me.

"Tch, then so be it," he rose into the air. "But remember, with all that I've done and will do, I have become unto a god of chaos."

"That would explain why I hate you so much, _god_," I said the word with poison lining my tongue.

"The ultimate battle for Republic City has come! Now let us begin!"

"No, let's finish!"

Zaheer made the first move, dashing toward me, but Sakeme intercepted him, flinging an arc of fire his way while I followed it up with a blast of air to push him back. With his initial offensive null, he retreated to the skies. "Oh no you don't!" Sakeme made a solid wall of flames to block Zaheer's escape as I leapt up after him, grabbing his foot and slamming him to the ground, pummeling him, using airbending, as I landed. Sakeme tried to land a solid blow as well, but Zaheer rolled out of the way of the jet of fire, standing to face us both.

He chuckled. "What are you laughing about?"

"Heh, I guess three's a crowd," he said before once again launching an assault.

* * *

Souta didn't stay down for long, dashing forward, quite nimbly even within his armor, and swung with the intention of splitting heads, though both Kuvira and Lin managed to get out of the way in time. Kuvira made the motion to bend the armor away from him, but nothing budged. "Platinum," she guessed.

"You recognize this design?" Souta mocked her. You invented it, didn't you?"

"Except yours is a paperweight compared to mine," she returned.

"And why have you reared your ugly head here?" Lin questioned the younger woman. "Come to take the scraps?"

"I came to take down the Red Lotus," she explained, frustrated that this was what the police chief was focusing on. "Just like you. Give me your cables."

"I refuse!" Lin looked appalled. Their chat was cut short as Souta attacked, ripping stones from the ground and chucking them at them as he dashed toward Kuvira, who cartwheeled around him and leapt over him, sending an earth pillar his way. He soon recovered and dashed again, this time being blocked by two rock walls which he burst through and attacked, both women dodging to either side.

"Your cables, now!" Kuvira repeated.

"Gah! Fine, take them!" she shot them toward Kuvira, with the latter catching them and forming a tripwire as they both ran past the mecha, forcing it to fall to the ground. Kuvira then pulled on her end and then cut it, quickly forming it into a blade, leaping onto the back of the mecha and stabbing into it. Before she could cut a hole, however, the mecha slammed its back against the wall, crushing her between it and the mecha before tossing her off, though Lin then pushed to offense as she sent several pillars toward the mecha, with Kuvira soon joining.

However, soon Souta pushed through the pillars, ramming into Kuvira to knock her away and then slamming Lin into the ground, winding her, about to finish the job, Souta slammed down, though Kuvira locked the blade, which she'd turned back into a cable, and pulled her out of the way. Despite this, Lin was unconscious because of the blow.

Now on her own, Kuvira rolled out of the way of another blow and, expecting another attack, she sent some of her own, only to find that he simply pointed at her before firing off a built-in flamethrower. Kuvira just barely put up a rock wall to block it, and even then, it had burned off most of the shirt she'd been wearing. When the flamethrower stopped firing, Kuvira dashed out, ready to continue her assault, only to be pelted with a boulder directly in her abdomen, knocking her off her feet. She stood, quickly, only to be knocked down again and then forced to put up a barrier to block the flamethrower again. But this time, pinned to the ground because of the flames, Kuvira could only wait it out.

* * *

Once Ling had finished scouring the city, he started making his way toward Air Temple Island, to check for…anything that would help really. Not only that, but that was where Kanon and he were going to meet up to he could transport her to the island to aid in the fight.

He saw her almost immediately. "Anything interesting?"

"People hiding away like cowards," she stated. "I got them onto trains out of the city."

"Same," Ling stated. "Let's head over; it looks like the party started without us."

"As usual for a crisis in Republic City," she said with a wave of her hand, referring to when they arrived mid-battle when Kuvira invaded.

"_Days of warning…"_ the singing returned.

"Wait," Ling said, easily pinpointing Kaito's location.

"_Night…turns to morning…my prayers, worthless…"_ it soon downgraded into a sob, following by, again, driveling madness. "_Heaven is burning down." _Ling and Kanon soon found her, sitting on the edge of the island, looking over the chaos. "_Darkest lord, your mercy shall I gain…strike the match, and engulf the Earth in flames…in flames…in flames…in flames!"_ she finished as Ling sat beside her. "You're going to die tonight," she said softly to him, hardly noticing his presence.

Kanon put a hand on my shoulder. "We don't have time for this; we need to hurry to help Yuuto."

Sighing, and giving one last glance to Kaito, Ling stood, realizing that only one thing would help her now. He swiftly let out a blast of sound, knocking her into the water, where she sunk without struggle. Kanon looked confused. "…She was suffering…she didn't deserve it; she was a good person. Despite what happened to the airbenders, at least they didn't die slowly," he said, in a rare somber moment. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Give me a lift," she said before they went off toward the island. Once they landed, and saw the chaos, they stopped. "Alright, I'll go in an help Yuuto and the others," she said. "You stay here and-"

Back on Air Temple Island, something burst from the water, soon revealing Kaito riding toward them on a massive wave.

"…I'll deal with that," Ling offered.

"Yeah, good luck," she replied as she dashed into the building, not wanting to fight that thing.

Ling faced the wave, watching it build in intensity as he waited, controlling his breathing before, just as it approached, he let out a massive wall of sound, stopping the wave dead and flinging Kaito from it, making her crash into the wall. "You should've stayed down there," Ling stated as he kneeled beside her.

She giggled. "Couldn't breathe," she stated. "Need to breathe to watch the fireworks."

"What are you-"

Ling never finished as he was knocked to the side, soon recovering and seeing that Kaito, despite her deranged state, was ready to fight once more. "You're gonna die tonight," she repeated.

"…" Ling didn't reply, just stared at her as he stood, with Kanon at the other end, building lightning. "You first," he said before he soundbent the woman as she put up a water barrier, and, as Kanon let off the lightning, she side-stepped, and whipped out at Ling with the barrier as the lightning came in contact with it, electrocuting him.

Shocked (no pun intended), Kanon ceased firing as she went in close, diffusing some of the water barrier before being forced back as Ling took the offensive, having recovered quickly, throwing Kaito back into the water.

"Kanon, now!"

"On it!" she called back as she shot a quick bolt, though Kaito forced herself into the air for the duration of it and then propelled herself back onto land. The woman began laughing. "What's so funny?!" Kanon demanded.

"I'm gonna kill you all!" she cried manically as she raised a tidal wave just off shore. Ling took a deep breath and, as she released the wave, he let out a wide ray of sound, curving the wave around the island so it didn't do any damage.

"Go! I can handle her!" he said to Kanon as he extended his wingsuit and took off.

"Get back here, dead-man!" she yelled as she followed him on a water spout, leaving Kanon to enter the base.

* * *

Even together, Sakeme and I struggled to keep up with Zaheer, though, to be fair, it was mostly Sakeme fighting and me trying to dodge his attacks. I occasionally sent a volley here or there, but nothing, not even Sakeme's fire arcs, could break Zaheer's defenses.

"You've lost twice now, Zephyr! What chance do you think you have half-dead?!" he questioned as he blasted me away, where Sakeme rushed to my side.

"Because he's not alone!" he yelled back as he exchanged wave after wave with the Red Lotus leader.

"And what can you do about it? He may as well be alone with all the help you're providing!"

"Shut up!"

"You can hardly hold your _ground_!" Zaheer let out a dropkick imbued with his airbending, knocking Sakeme into me, with us both flying against the wall. "Let alone try and take me down," he mocked. "You're as helpless as you were last time!" he mocked as Sakeme once again charged him. I struggled to stand. "Leave us, traitor!" Zaheer ordered as he grabbed Sakeme's shirt and threw him out of the room. "Now," he cracked his knuckles. "We can truly begin."

* * *

Kuvira still couldn't get out of the situation she got herself in, still curled up underneath a barrier of earth as a flamethrower was shot down onto it in a continuous stream. The heat seeped through, sweat drenching her body. "Damn it, think!" she told herself, but how could she get out of this?

Suddenly, the heat disappeared, and she heard a thud next to her. She undid the barrier only briefly to see Kanon rushing past her. Seeing an opportunity, she stood, ready to fight once again, only to be quickly defeated once again. Even with four pillars being thrust into its chest, the metal monstrosity didn't budge, and he charged through them, knocking her away and into the wall. "Now die, Great Uniter!" Souta yelled from inside.

Kuvira raised her hands to defend herself in vain, but the impact never came, and inside two large slabs of earth crush the machine, dazing Souta who was inside. Kuvira looked for her savior and soon saw Suyin Beifong entering the room.

"Finally, another ally. Beifong, on me!" Kuvira called, going on the offensive, knocking the Souta back slightly. "Now!" she yelled the signal, but nothing came and Souta recovered, grabbing Kuvira by the torso and slamming her into the ground. "Beifong?" she questioned, only to see her kneeled next to her sister.

"I have no business with either of you," was all she said as she picked up her sister.

"Heh, even a fellow earthbender betrays you," Souta mocked as he picked up Kuvira and literally gave her a bear hug, beginning to crush her between its chest and arms. Kuvira cried out in pain. "And to think! You once had complete control of the Earth Kingdom! Your empire was nigh unstoppable and now you stand crushed by the very thing you once called your own!"

"Beifong, help!" Kuvira begged, with Suyin looking back. "Please!" Kuvira reached for her, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "I need your help! Mother, please!"

Suyin hesitated at that, but sure enough, she closed the stone doors behind her. Kuvira dropped her hand, gasping for air. When suddenly she heard a grunt and the mecha released her, being blasted away by the doors that were once closed.

Kuvira dropped to the ground, nearly hacking up a lung and holding her side and Suyin kneeled next to her and tugged on her arm. "We need to go, now!" Suyin claimed.

"No, I need to stop him…" Kuvira said back. "Danger…to Yuuto," she reasoned, her sentences fragmented.

Understanding, Suyin nodded, and the two women came to a temporary alliance. However, their reunion was short lived, as Suyin pushed Kuvira out of the way of another dash attack. "Aim for the legs!" Suyin yelled as she threw Kuvira one of her cables while she worked the other one around one of the mecha's feet.

"Right!" Kuvira agreed as she copied the motion, both women tugging and causing the mecha to fall. It tried to stand. "No you don't!" she quickly wrapped her cable around the torso and digging the ends into the ground.

Kuvira backed into Suyin's motion, the two used to being coordinated from their dancing days, and dragged a gigantic rock slab, basically they condensed the entire ceiling into a stake so it was uber-dense, and then leapt up, with the spike following them and slammed it down onto the mecha at full force, finally piercing through its defenses and causing the entire thing to explode.

Once they both put together that the battle was over, Kuvira collapsed onto her hands and knees, exhausted and heavily injured from being tossed around like a rag-doll. Suyin knelt next to her, rubbing her back. "It's alright," she assured. "It's over."

* * *

However, it was most certainly not over, as when Sakeme was blasted out of the fight with Zaheer, he was blasted straight out of the building, right into Ling who was busy with Kaito. The two tumbled onto the ground outside of the shrine base.

The two stood glaring at each other. "Watch it, fire freak! Do you realize how busy I am right now?" Ling questioned.

"Me watch out? I was just fighting the leader of the Red Lotus and was blasted out here while you were having a leisurely glide!" Sakeme argued.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling on the entire island, and a massive water avatar controlled by Kaito emerged. "…A leisurely glide, huh?"

"I…may have been misinformed," Sakeme admitted. "Break!"

The two dashed to either side of the thing, with Ling propelling himself into a glide, going behind it and sound-bending it to hunch over the island while Sakeme pounded it with fire arcs. "Use your lightning!" Ling yelled down to his ally.

"Whoever said I had lightning?" Sakeme questioned as he sent one final blast of fire at the water avatar, dazing it and causing it to stumble backwards. Blindly, it lashed out at Ling, who should've easily been able to dodge it, but instead he didn't, and was swatted back onto the island, with his wingsuit in tatters from scrapes and rips. "Get your head here, Ling!" Sakeme ordered as he picked up his comrade. "Or we're both gonna die!"

"I-I'm sorry, I just…" Ling shook his head.

"Look out!" Sakeme pulled and propelled both of them out of the way of a slam attack from Kaito. They hid behind a pile of rubble. Sakeme turned to Ling. "Hey, man, what's your problem?"

"I…have a lot of things running through my head right now," Ling stated.

"Like what? What could be so important?" Reluctantly, Ling pulled out the wind sword and lit it up, with Sakeme understanding instantly. "Oh no, you can't be serious…" he moaned as he covered his eyes. "Yuuto said that he wouldn't use you as a bloody sacrifice, Ling."

"It's the only way, and you know it," Ling argued. "Even as a team, Zaheer has an army to beat us. Yuuto is no match even with your help apparently, and we're having trouble enough with his two lackeys; we need an ace in the hole, Sakeme," Ling reasoned.

"But it's your _life_!" Sakeme argued. "Are you really willing to give it up, just like that?"

Ling tossed the wind sword up and down a bit before catching it firmly. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Letting out a deep breath, Sakeme relented. "Alright…fine, go do what you have to do."

"What?"

"Go in there and kick ass, you hear me?" Sakeme urged him toward the building. "If this is goodbye, then good luck in the next life."

Ling nodded, and gave Sakeme a little salute before running into the building.

"Get back here, dead-man!" Kaito attempted to reach for him through, but Sakeme let loose a wave a flames which severed the arm of water, causing Kaito to reel back, acting in false pain. "Ow, that hurt, traitor."

"My heart bleeds," Sakeme returned. "Hey, Kaito, you ready see why I was always a better bender than you?"

"Impossible! I'm going to kill you all!"

"I'm gonna drop you in one fell swoop. Go ahead and take the first shot," he egged her on. "And maybe then I'll let you kill the little soundbender."

Kaito sent a punch his way, but he swiftly dodged it and propelled himself forward and, as Kaito raised an arm to block, he let out a massive wave of flames, which thinned out the beast severely and knocked it back. Kaito, in retaliation, tried to slam the water avatar's palms to crush Sakeme, but he repelled them with his flames, bursting forward to the edge of the island and leapt, using his flames to boost his velocity as he entered the chest of the beast, grabbed Kaito and yanked her out the other side, throwing her into the sky and shooting wave after wave of fire into her chest until he hit the water.

She he broke the surface, Sakeme saw the lifeless body of Kaito floating and then sinking down. "I'm sorry, but it had to be done, old friend," he claimed as he swam back to the island.

* * *

I was blasted into another wall, again struggling to stand. "Face it, Zephyr, you've lost. You've lost the war on chaos, and with you gone, there won't be one sliver of order left in this godforsaken world. Soon, the Water Tribes will fall, followed by the Earth Kingdom, once again succumbing to anarchy. With the Reborn Air Nation already out of the equation, all that's left is the Fire Nation, who will have the life squeezed out of it slowly and intimately until there's nothing left but _chaos_!"

"No, I won't let you!" I vowed, raising a weak fist to attack, but it was quickly diffused as I was knocked away again like a rag-doll. "You won't win…" I choked out.

"And who's going to stop me? You?" he questioned.

"No, me!" blue light illuminated the room as lighting was shot inches from my face, blasting Zaheer away. Kanon was standing in the doorway before she rushed to my side, picking me up. "Come on, fly boy. You gotta stand up and stretch those wings of yours."

"Wings?" Zaheer knocked us apart, though Kanon quickly rushed to my side. "As if he could ever have them; the weak-willed fool that he is."

"You're wrong, Zaheer. Yuuto is the stronger one of you," Kanon argued. "When he lost his flight, he just pushed himself to be better than when he had it, while you were driven to insanity because you lost it."

"I was driven to this level because my perfect chaos was incomplete," Zaheer stated, sending wave after wave of air toward us, which Kanon managed to diffuse.

"Kanon, please, leave!" I begged her. "I can't lose you too!"

"You think I'm running from the main event?" she questioned light-heartedly. "If so, you clearly don't know me."

"So tongue-in-cheek, little girl," Zaheer's attacks became faster and more intense. "But how long will your laughable façade last, hm? Perhaps until I slowly beat you to death as I will the rest of your pathetic little team," he offered menacingly.

"Kanon, you can't beat him, just leave! I'm who he wants!"

"Would you shut up?!" she snapped. "I'm sick and tired of you running off and taking the heat for everything! It's time I showed some scars in this relationship. It's time I fought the battles!"

"But Kanon…"

"I told you before that you weren't alone, that you'd never be alone, and I meant it. I'm not going to let you march to your death because you're worried about me. I'm going to stand by your side through it all, every single one of us would stand by your side through it all, and that's never going to change!" she yelled as flames curled around us from diffusing Zaheer's blasts.

"Well spoken!" Ling's voiced was heard as he leapt up behind Zaheer and swiped with a wind sword; my wind sword to be more specific. Zaheer dodged the blow and stepped back, examining the situation. "But allow me to say it better!"

"You think adding another half-dead player will help in this massacre, boy?"

"You wanna go a few rounds, big red? If so, then go ahead, try and kill me, see how far it gets you."

Zaheer chuckled. "No, you're the one who lives, soundbender. The Avatar Spirits, should Yuuto die, would reject you without a doubt; too impulsive by nature. Should the opposite occur, well…I suppose we won't be seeing that outcome, now will we?"

"Actually, I'm curious. What _would_ happen if Yuuto gets all the Avatar Spirits inside him, and Raava's blessing along with it?"

"If you're trying to intrigue me, it won't work."

"Ling, don't," I begged.

"Fine then," Ling stated. "If you won't, then I will!" he ran the blade through his heart. Coughing up blood immediately, he dropped to his knees.

"Ling, no!" Kanon called out, through she stopped when she saw him stand, in spite of his fatal wound.

"Yuuto, you better listen close!" he yelled, his voice echoing throughout the room. "With my death comes yours as well. You're no longer Yuuto, you hear? You're now something, or rather, you can _choose_ to be something greater. I gladly accept the burden of your doubt and will drown into death carrying it, so devote yourself to the hero, solely to the hero, and let your wings spread far and wide! Because all of the Avatars are with you. Kanon, and Kuvira, and Sakeme, and I are always with you, fighting right by your side!" he yelled as a blue light emanated from him as a wisp exited his body and entered mine, as visions lashed in my head. "This is your requiem, Zephyr! Now come, Guardian!"

"_Your doubt is snagged on broken wings…"_

"_You thought you'd have to bear it alone."_

"_We're with you because we all believe in you! We'll always be with you, whether you want us here or not!"_

I stood, opening my mouth to speak as I felt myself becoming lighter, me feet soon leaving the ground as the building shook. "Days…of warning…night…bring morning. My prayers, answered; heaven…is shining down…" I chanted as I rose higher, bending the earth in the ceiling to collapse, allowing me to rise higher, into the sky, slowly starting to glow a pale blue light. "Sanctioned Lord…your glory shall I gain. Light the match, and watch the spark of hope encase…" I was now shining like a bright blue star, as all fighting below stopped as everyone stared. I even saw people come to the shore to see. "Nature, growing…warriors soothing…let the old ones die…as heaven…breaks through the sky," I finished, opening my eyes to show that they were engulfed in a pale blue light; the symbol of the Avatar. "That is the Zephyr's requiem."

"_Welcome, Guardian,_" a voice spoke inside my head.

"Raava," I acknowledged her presence, her gift to me. "Allow me your strength," I said as I spread my arms to the side, releasing several blue blights with took places in a circle above the building, the lights quickly forming the images of past Avatars. "And the strength of your vessels."

"W-what? No! It wasn't supposed to turn out like this!" Zaheer yelled from below, quickly rising to fight. I swiped one hand in the air before raising it to the sky and the Avatar's spirits dove for the Red Lotus leader, slashing at him with fans and blades, knocked him back with precise bending. Once each Avatar had done its share, it returned, into my raised hand where it condensed into a smaller sphere.

As more and more Avatars returned, the sphere grew stronger, more packed with Spirit Energy. There was only one Avatar left, so I dove, straight for Zaheer, who'd been grounded from the assault.

"I won't let it end!" Zaheer vowed raising higher, though the last Avatar grabbed his foot and tossed him back down onto the ground before flying up to meet me with her beautiful cerulean eyes, with us taking the others hand as she merged with the Spirit Energy.

"Go get 'em, fly boy…"

I landed just inches from Zaheer, crouching below him. "The nightmare is over, Zaheer!" I yelled as I brought my hand up, releasing the spirit energy all at once, resulting in a massive beam of blue light, surpassing Kuvira's unnatural spirit canon by a mile, completely obliterating Zaheer in an instant.

The beam was so powerful that it split open the clouds that had formed, but once the attack ended, they receded to normal.

I stood, knowing that the battle was over and had been won, but at great cost. My attention turned to Ling who was still letting out weak coughs. I kneeled down next to him. "Hey, come on, man," I slapped him lightly a couple times. "Stay with us here."

"Sorry, man…" he choked out. "It was inevitable."

"No, Ling, damn it, you can't die!" I cried, tears falling from my eyes.

"Don't go and be a pushover now," he said lightly, laughing a little before coughing. "Did you win?"

"Yeah…yeah, Ling, I won, thanks to you."

"Good, good…then I suppose I get the credit, right?" he asked.

"All of it, every yuan, I promise, Ling, just…" Slowly, the light faded form his eyes. "Oh gods…Ling, please…please stay with us, Ling, you've gotta…" my voice faded into sobs for my fallen friend.

* * *

Sometime later…

The rubble was still being cleared, and Kanon and I were left at Air Temple Island. "Do you think he's watching us?" Kanon asked, clearly sad about the events that transpired, as she should be.

"I tend not to think about it," I replied, somberly, more wishing not to sadden myself more. "But if he could, he would be."

Kanon nodded. "So…what now? You're the last airbender, right?" she wondered.

"Well, I don't about any bending crap, but I do have a question," I turned to her, getting even more serious than before. "And, while I really don't have a right to ask, I will anyway."

"Well, go on, fly boy, ask it already."

"I probably should've asked this earlier, you know before we almost died several times, but hey I figured you didn't need the distraction," I knelt down and took her hand. "Kanon, we've been together for a long time, right?"

"Try over ten years now?"

"Right, and uh…jeez, I'm bad at this. And I know this might be a bad time what with the massive battle not a few hours prior and one of our best friends just died a hero, but I figured what better way to honor his sacrifice than with a glorious joining; you know, so I was thinking-"

"Yuuto, if you're not going to ask your question then the answer will be no."

I sighed. "Alright, here goes…Kanon, daughter of Fire Lord Izumi; will you marry me?" She chuckled and then leaned down and kissed me. "Is…that a yes?" I asked as she pulled away.

"I don't know, is it?" she asked seductively as she kissed once again. "I never said no, did I?"

…

…

…

"Do you take Kanon to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Bolin asked. "Do you promise to protect her as you would this city in its entirety?"

I nodded, both of our eyes gleaming. "I do."

"And do you, Kanon, take Yuuto to be your husband, promising to always be open and honest throughout times of trial and hardship?"

She nodded. "I do…always…" she vowed.

"Then I do so declare the joining of these two souls forever," he smirked at me. "You may…now kiss the bride."

We were both grinning as I slowly flipped up her veil, and brought our lips to touch, enjoying the moment for what it was, a celebration, of events occurring in the present sure, but of the peace which was fought for by the ones past.

The reception went on and the party ensued, Kanon and I danced, danced long and passionately, and then I flew around the city with her in my arms, finally giving her her reward.

We didn't return to the party until after everyone had left, wanting to be alone. We sat on the beaches of Air Temple Island, holding hands and laying on the sand as we had the day we got together, and we were content. We sat there for a long time.

And then someone cleared her throat. We turned around, and my eyes widened in shock. "Korra?" I questioned, standing and meeting her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to stop by for a while, to congratulate you two on several jobs well done. I heard about what happened, and…I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"It's fine, we…dealt with it."

Kanon and Korra shook hands. "But really, I'm so happy for you two."

"Thank you very much. It means a lot to hear an Avatar say that," Kanon said. "But…you never really told us why you're here."

"Well, a little feather in the wind told me to come back for a while, and word on the street says," he smirked as she finished. "That you need a waterbending teacher."

**Author's Note:**

**Finally!**

**I can say that I've contributed fully to the Korra universe in my own twisted way! Hurray! Yay!**

**Ahem...so yeah, that was the _real_ finale of the Last (Great) Airbender; a bit bitter-sweet, sure, but it finally makes sense of the freaking title, am I right? Anyway, yeah. I'm not really sure where it's going to go from here, though I have a few ideas.**

**Part of me wants to just leave this alone and let the characters have their ending, but part of me wants to finish up the whole Wildlands thing I started near the end of LGA, so...yeah...**

**Anyway, leave in a review if you guys would actually want a sequel to this. I already know what it'd be about, with the main cast from this story taking supporting roles for a newer generation, so it'd take place roughly twenty years after this story ends. It would deal with themes of absolute power corrupting the mind, the price of a martyr, survival of the fittest, etc.**

**Whatever your opinion, I want to know it and I want to know it know, even fifty years in the future, I want to know, so tell me! But thank you all for getting through this journey with me, it's been a lot of fun and caused a lot of stress, but I don't regret a minute of the time spent on this piece and I hope you don't either, but, as always, I'll see you guys in the next fic!**


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